Week before son’s ‘murder’, Suchana Seth had made another visit to Goa with her child

Suchana was caught from Karnataka’s Chitradurga district while allegedly trying to flee in a cab with her son’s body stuffed in a bag. The police had earlier told The Indian Express that strained relations with her estranged husband, Venkatraman PR, and a custody battle for the son may have led her to allegedly commit the crime.

A family court in Bengaluru had allowed Venkatraman to see his son every Sunday, but according to police, Suchana had not been letting that happen. According to Venkatraman’s lawyer Azhar Meer, over the last one year, the family court in Bengaluru had incrementally given orders in favour of his client.

“On December 31 (Sunday) when she arrived in Goa, she told her husband that their son was unwell, so she could not send him to meet his father. The consecutive visits to Goa over the two weekends suggest she did not want her husband to meet their son as mandated by the court,” said the officer.

According to the FIR, Seth and her son had checked into room number 404 of a service apartment of Hotel Sol Banyan Grande on the night of January 6. She had booked the room till January 10, but cut her trip short, informing the hotel staff on January 7 (Sunday), around 9.10 pm, that she wanted to check out due to “urgent work” in Bengaluru.

Meanwhile, a children’s court in Panaji extended Suchana’s police remand by five days. She was produced in court in Goa on Monday afternoon after her six-day police remand ended.