Goa Murder Update: Dr. Kumar Naik, the post-mortem examiner, reveals that the child was murdered over 36 hours prior; Suchana Seth is now in police custody.
Dr. Kumar Naik, responsible for the post-mortem, disclosed that the four-year-old son of Suchana Seth, CEO of The Mindful AI Lab in Bengaluru, was suffocated to death. Suchana Seth was apprehended in Chitradurga, Karnataka, on Monday night, accused of fatally harming her son at a service apartment in Goa during their vacation last week.
Suchana Seth, aged 39, was arrested by Goa Police while traveling from Goa to Bengaluru with her son’s body found inside a suitcase. The child, according to Dr. Kumar Naik of Hiriyur Taluk Hospital in Chitradurga, was killed by strangulation using a cloth or pillow. It appears that hands were not directly involved in the act. Rigor mortis had already set in and resolved in the child’s body, indicating the tragic circumstances surrounding the incident.
Dr. Kumar Naik, as quoted by news agency PTI, mentioned that typically in India, the stiffening of muscles known as rigor mortis resolves after 36 hours. However, in this child’s situation, there was no rigor mortis, indicating that more than 36 hours had passed since his demise. Additionally, Naik noted that there were no signs of blood loss or struggle marks on the child’s body.
According to Dr. Kumar Naik, while they couldn’t pinpoint the exact time, it had been around 36 hours since the child’s death. In Goa, a senior police officer part of the investigation suggested that the child was suffocated, potentially using a pillow from the service apartment, as reported by The Indian Express. The officer mentioned that no specific murder weapon was found, and Suchana Seth allegedly attempted self-harm by cutting her wrists with scissors. Blood samples have been taken for a DNA test to confirm this, as per the newspaper.
Who is Suchana Seth?
- Suchana Seth is the CEO of ‘The Mindful AI Lab.’
- Her LinkedIn profile highlights over 12 years of experience as an AI ethics expert and data scientist.
- She is listed among the “100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics.”
- Seth has held prestigious positions, including a Mozilla Fellow at Data & Society, a Fellow at the Berkman Klein Centre at Harvard University, and a research fellow at the Raman Research Institute.
- She holds patents in natural language processing.
- Specializes in ‘AI Ethics Advisory & Audits’ and ‘Responsible AI Strategy.’
- Seth is a postgraduate from the University of Calcutta.
- She spent time at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
- Originally from West Bengal, she resides in Bengaluru.
- Her husband, Venkat Raman, is from Kerala.
- Reports suggest they married in 2010, and their son was born in 2019.
- Marital disputes led to filing for divorce in 2020.
- WHO IS VENKAT RAMAN?
- Venkat Raman, the estranged husband of Suchana Seth, returned to India from Jakarta on Tuesday evening after learning about his child’s murder, according to the police.
- Upon arriving in Chitradurga, Karnataka, Venkat Raman provided his consent to local authorities for the post-mortem examination of his son’s body.
- What we know about the Goa murder
- The murder occurred in a service apartment at Candolim in North Goa between January 6 and 8, as per the Goa police. Suchana Seth and her son checked into the service apartment on January 6. After a few days, she left for Bengaluru in a taxi on January 8 morning. Staff members at the apartment discovered bloodstains on a towel in the room she occupied, prompting them to alert the Goa Police. The police were informed that Seth had an unusually heavy bag, and her child was not seen. Goa Police contacted authorities in Chitradurga, who examined Seth’s bag and discovered the child’s body. She was arrested in Chitradurga and later brought to Goa, where a court remanded her in police custody for six days.