Suchana Seth was arrested from Chitradurga in Karnataka on Monday.
An accident that caused a massive traffic jam near the border of Goa was among the many elements that led the police to the Bengaluru woman who killed her four-year-old son at a service apartment in Candolim.
“When she was fleeing Goa, she was stuck at Chorla Ghat due to an accident for four hours. This was a blessing in disguise. Had she reached Bangalore, it would have been difficult to get the body of the child, police sources said.
Chorla Ghat is located at the intersection of the borders of Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra. It lies to the north-east of Panaji, Goa and nearly 55 kilometres from Belgaum in Karnataka.
As per sources, Suchana Seth allegedly killed her son and stuffed the body in a bag on Monday reportedly over a custody battle with her estranged husband. Ms Seth was arrested from Chitradurga in Karnataka on the same day and brought to Goa on Tuesday.
According to the couple’s divorce documents, Ms Seth had filed a domestic violence case in August 2022 against her estranged husband Venkat Raman. She had accused him of physically abusing her and her son, a charge Venkat Raman has denied in court. The court issued a restraining order against Mr Raman who was barred from his wife’s home or communicating with her or the child.
He was, though, handed visitation rights, a development which allegedly upset Ms Seth.
As per sources, Ms Suchana sent a WhatsApp message to Mr Raman on Saturday. “You can meet the child,” read the message. The woman was in Goa on Saturday, days before she killed the child.
Venkat Raman, however, got to know that the family wasn’t in Bengaluru. He later left for Indonesia, sources said, adding, Venkat Raman will be called in a few days for interrogation.
Suchana Seth, however, has denied her involvement in the crime during the interrogation and claimed the child was already dead when she got up from sleep, police sources said.
The Goa police, meanwhile, have found two empty bottles of cough syrup in the room where the CEO of Mindful AI allegedly killed the boy. She might have given a heavy dose of the medicine to him and that it was a planned murder, an official said.
The post-mortem has revealed the child was smothered to death either with a cloth or a pillow, according to officials.
Ms Seth checked into the service apartment on January 6 and stayed there till January 8 before leaving for Bengaluru in a taxi. Following her arrest, a court in Mapusa town of Goa on Tuesday remanded her in police custody for six days.
Venkat Raman reached Hiriyur in Chitradurga district on Tuesday night and took possession of his son’s body after the post-mortem.
