Suchana Seth chargesheet ready: Police say child died of strangulation, not poison; accused ‘sharp in mind’

Suchana and her son checked into Hotel Sol Banyan Grande in North Goa’s Candolim on January 6 night. She had booked the room till January 10, but cut her trip short, informing the hotel staff on January 7 night that she wanted to check-out due to “urgent work” in Bengaluru. The next day, she was caught from Karnataka’s Chitradurga district while allegedly trying to flee in a cab with her son’s body stuffed in a bag.

She had married Venkatraman P R in 2010 and they had a son in 2019, following which differences cropped up in their marriage. The couple were separated and embroiled in divorce and custody proceedings.

According to the chargesheet, in January 2022, Suchana told her husband she wanted a divorce and subsequently filed a petition against him in a court in Bengaluru. The police said she also filed a case in a family court in Bengaluru under the Guardians and Wards Act and obtained an ex-parte order in August 2022 prohibiting her husband from taking custody of his son from her.

The chargesheet noted that in subsequent proceedings, the court began to reinstate his access to his son, and as per an order on December 9, 2022, he was permitted to video call him every Tuesday and Thursday from 7 pm to 7.30 pm. After another order of the court dated April 10, 2023, he was permitted to meet his son every alternate Saturday from 11 am to 1 pm at the family court visitation centre, “but the accused (Suchana) was not allowing him to meet his son giving one or other excuses”, the chargesheet states.

Further, a message written in black ink on torn pieces of tissue paper, put back together by forensic investigators, is a key part of the chargesheet. The note purportedly written by Suchana – found from the trolley luggage bag inside which her son’s body was recovered in Karnataka – claims the child did not want to return to his father. “My ex-husband and the family court judge are threatening to send me to jail if I don’t send my 4-year-old son against his will. My lawyer can’t find a way to keep my son safe. I can’t bear this,” the note states.

According to investigators, the note “could help the police to establish motive” for the crime. However, Azhar Meer, Venkatraman’s advocate, said: “These allegations are all false and baseless. There is no merit and no truth in these allegations. This is an attempt by the accused to distract from her own wrongdoing.”

The Forensic Sciences Laboratory report to match the handwriting on the note to a handwriting specimen of the accused is awaited, according to the police.

The chargesheet also states that according to the medical officer who conducted the post-mortem, “the cause of death is due to shock and respiratory asphyxia as a result of strangulation”.

“The viscera examination report has been received from the Goa State Forensic Science Laboratory in Verna, in which it is opined that common poison could not be detected in the contents of the exhibits,” the chargesheet said. The police claimed in the chargesheet that Suchana is “sharp in mind and capable of misleading the investigation”.