Suchana Seth case: Bengaluru CEO’s estranged husband video-called son before the 4-yr old was murdered

Suchana Seth case: Venkat Raman, the estranged husband of Bengaluru-based CEO Suchana Seth, had a video call with his four-year-old son from Indonesia on January 7, shortly before the boy was allegedly murdered in a service apartment in Goa. The couple had filed for a divorce in 2020 after being married for 10 years. 

After their separation, a court had granted Raman permission to meet his son on Sundays. Seth, the CEO of Bengaluru-based start-up The Mindful AI Lab, was arrested in Karnataka's Chitradurga for the alleged murder of her son. Police found her with a bag containing her son's body, after she checked out from 'Sol Banyan Grande' in North Goa's Candolim. 

Seth was en route to Bengaluru at the time of her arrest and has been remanded in police custody for six days. The police believe that the murder was premeditated as empty cough syrup bottles were found in Seth's room. A doctor has suggested that Seth might have used a towel or a pillow to kill the boy. 

Despite the allegations, Seth appeared mentally stable during the police interrogation. 

Dr Kumar Naik of Hiriyur Taluk Hospital suggested that the boy was smothered with a cloth or a pillow, and not hands. There were no signs of blood loss or struggle marks on the boy's body. Seth reportedly attempted suicide by slitting her wrist after the incident but later decided against it and returned to Bengaluru with her son's body in a tourist cab. 

The 39-year-old entrepreneur from West Bengal, has been detained in police custody for six days by a local court in Goa. The police believe that Seth killed her son to prevent her estranged husband, who was abroad at the time, from meeting him. 

Seth is an AI ethics expert and data scientist with over 12 years of experience. She has been listed in the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics List and holds patents in natural language processing. She is an alumnus of the University of Calcutta and has been a research fellow at the Raman Research Institute and the Berkman Klein Centre at Harvard University.

Meanwhile, the service apartment building in North Goa has restricted entry for outsiders following the murder. 

Also read: Suchana Seth case: Bengaluru CEO smothered 4-yr-old son to death, says doctor

Also read: Bengaluru CEO attempted suicide after killing 4-year-old son in Goa apartment: Police

Also read: Bengaluru CEO Suchana Seth likely preplanned 4-yr-old son's murder, key evidence found: Goa Police