Start-up CEO held for killing minor son says she and her husband are estranged: Goa police

Panaji, Jan 9 (PTI) The chief executive officer of a start-up company, who has been arrested in Karnataka for allegedly killing her four-year-old son in Goa, has told the police that she and her husband were estranged and “divorce proceedings” were on between them, a senior official said on Tuesday. The official also said that the motive behind the murder is yet to be known as the accused woman has not been interrogated so far as she is being brought to Goa from the neighbouring state. Suchana Seth, the 39-year-old CEO of a start-up company Mindful AI Lab, allegedly killed her minor son in Goa and then travelled with the body to neighbouring Karnataka. The Goa police arrested her from Chitradurga in Karnataka on Sunday night.

Talking to reporters, Superintendent of Police (North) Nidhin Valsan said, “A team of Goa police, which is investigating the case, is currently in Chitradurga district in Karnataka. The accused has been formally placed under arrest and is being brought to Goa. She will be here by this afternoon.” The accused has been booked by the Calangute police under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence), and also under the Goa Children’s Act, he said. The SP said that the motive behind the murder would be established only after her interrogation. “What she has told us till now is that she and her husband were estranged and that they are currently undergoing divorce proceedings,” he said.

The accused woman hails from West Bengal and has been living in Bengaluru, while her husband is from Kerala, the official said. Her estranged husband is currently in Jakarta (Indonesia) and he has been informed about the incident, Valsan said.According to him, the accused woman had stuffed the child’s body in her “luggage”. “The exact cause of his death would be established only after a post-mortem is conducted,” he said.

The police earlier said that Seth had checked into a rented service apartment at Candolim in North Goa on January 6 along with her son. After staying there for two days, she informed the apartment staff that she wanted to go to Bengaluru for some work and asked them to arrange for a taxi. Accordingly a vehicle was arranged on January 8 in which she left early in the morning. Later, when the apartment staff went to clean the room in which she stayed, they found blood stains on a towel. After that, the management of the apartment immediately informed the police.

The staff also informed that the woman’s four-year-old son was not seen with her when she left the apartment and she was also carrying an unusually heavy bag. The police in Chitradurga (Karnataka) later checked the woman’s bag in which they found the body of the child.