Strained relations and a potential custody battle may have led a Bengaluru-based CEO of a start-up to allegedly murder her four-year-old son at a hotel in Goa, the state police said on Tuesday. According to police, Suchana Seth was caught from Karnataka’s Chitradurga district while trying to flee in a cab with her son’s body stuffed in a bag.
The Goa police arrested the accused, Suchana Seth, from Chitradurga in Karnataka on Monday night. She was brought to Goa on Tuesday and remanded in police custody for six days by a court in Mapusa town, news agency PTI reported.
“Prima facie, during questioning, the woman said she had strained relations with her husband and their divorce proceedings are underway… that there was some court order, because of which she was very unhappy. We have not seen the court order. She said she was separated. We have to verify all this… the motive is still not confirmed,” North Goa Superintendent of Police Nidhin Valsan said.
The officer further said police are looking into “some injury marks on her arms” and trying to ascertain if she “tried to slit her wrist”.
An officer said that “as per a recent court order, her husband was supposed to get custody of the child on Sundays, though all of this is being verified”.
According to investigators, during initial questioning, the woman denied killing her son, claiming she did not know what happened to him or how he died.
Police said that on January 6, Seth, a resident of Thanisandra in Bengaluru, made an online booking through AirBnB and checked into a service apartment at Hotel Sol Banyan Grande in North Goa’s Candolim with her son. On the night of January 7, around 1 am, Seth told the hotel staff that she was checking out and requested the staff to arrange a cab to take her to Bengaluru.
SP Valsan, said, “The hotel staff advised her to take a flight to Bengaluru, since the cab fare would be too expensive, but she insisted on a cab. The taxi (Innova) was arranged by the hotel staff and she checked out of the hotel around 1.30 am with her luggage.”
Police said that on Monday, around 10 am, when the hotel staff went to clean the service apartment, they noticed bloodstains on the floor and immediately informed Calangute police. The hotel staff told the police that the woman’s son was not accompanying her when she left the hotel.
“The police inspector from Calangute police station contacted the taxi driver and spoke to him and the woman over the phone. When the inspector enquired about the whereabouts of her son, she claimed she had left her son at a friend’s house in Margao and shared an address of the house. The police inspector contacted the in charge of Fatorda police station and asked him to enquire at the address,” said SP Valsan.
“That address was found fake, which raised suspicion. So, the police inspector called the cab driver again. This time, speaking to him in Konkani, the police asked him to discreetly drive to the nearest police station. The taxi driver drove to Aimangla police station in Chitradurga district of Karnataka. When Karnataka police checked her suitcase, her son’s body was found stuffed inside,” said SP Valsan.
The woman was taken into custody and a Goa police team reached Chitradurga late Monday night. After taking her on transit-remand, she was brought to Goa, where she will be produced in a court in Mapusa on Tuesday afternoon.
A police officer said, “The taxi driver had charged Rs 30,000 for the trip to Bengaluru. He told the police that when he picked up her luggage, he felt that the suitcase was unusually heavy, but didn’t think much of it.”
“Some bloodstains were found in the hotel apartment. The body has been preserved at a morgue in the district in Karnataka. After the post-mortem, the cause of death and further details will be known,” added SP Valsan.
Police said the woman’s husband is in Indonesia and has been asked to come to Goa for questioning.
On the complaint of the hotel supervisor, Goa police have registered an FIR against Seth under IPC sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and section 8 of The Goa Children’s Act.
The Goa murder case so far:
👉🏽 Suchana Seth, the 39-year-old CEO of an AI startup in Bengaluru, was arrested on Monday night for allegedly murdering her 4-year-old son at a service apartment in Goa.
👉🏽 Seth was ultimately caught from Karnataka’s Chitradurga district while trying to flee in a cab with her son’s body stuffed in a bag. How was the police able to catch her? It all began with the hotel staff alerting the cops of bloodstains on the floor of her apartment. The police then coordinated with the driver of her taxi, who managed to get her to the police station without arousing suspicion. Read the full report.
👉🏽 Conversing with Goa police in Konkani, a four-hour traffic jam on the way to Bengaluru, and the excuse of a quick washroom break – the cab driver who was ferrying Seth to her destination told The Indian Express how he managed to take her to the police station without arousing suspicion.
👉🏽 According to the police, Seth had booked the room from January 6 to January 10, but checked out earlier. Read our report on the findings of the probe so far.
👉🏽 Three days after her arrest, investigators said they have recovered a handwritten “note” on a piece of tissue paper purportedly written by her.
Police said the accused, Suchana Seth, was caught from Karnataka's Chitradurga district while trying to flee in a cab with her son's body stuffed in a bag. (Photo: X/Suchana Seth) 
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