Who is Suchana Seth, startup CEO held for murder of four-year-old son

Suchana Seth, 39, checked into a rental apartment in North Goa with her four-year-old son on Saturday, where she allegedly killed him and carried the body to Karnataka in a taxi

Suchana Seth, the chief executive officer (CEO) of a startup, was arrested from Chitradurga in Karnataka by the Goa police for allegedly killing her four-year-old son in Goa, the police said on Tuesday. The motive of the killing is not known yet.

According to Calangute police station inspector Paresh Naik, Seth checked into a rented apartment with her son in North Goa's Candolim on Saturday. Following her two-day stay, she vacated the property, suggesting that she had to go to Bengaluru for some work.

The police caught her after bloodstains were found in her rental, and the apartment staff said she had returned to Bengaluru alone.

Who is Suchana Seth

Seth, 39, is the founder and CEO of the startup Mindful AI Lab. She was among the top '100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics for 2021'. According to her LinkedIn profile, Seth is a data scientist based in New York, United States, with over 12 years of experience in the industry.

She founded the 'Mindful AI Lab' in 2020. Prior to that, Seth was associated with many fellowships, including being 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," her profile suggested

She also holds patents in natural language processing. In 2017, she contributed to the academic journal 'Economic and Political Weekly' on the issue of privacy rights and its interaction with artificial intelligence.

How events unfolded in Goa rental apartment

Following her announcement, Seth asked for the arrangement of a taxi to travel to Bengaluru. On her insistence for a taxi, the staff suggested boarding a flight instead, a relatively cheaper option. However, the accused insisted that she would travel by taxi only, and accordingly left early on Monday morning.

Later, the staff reported finding blood stains on a towel, Naik said. "The management of the apartment immediately informed the Calangute police, who then reached the spot," he said.

The staff also informed that the woman's four-year-old son was not seen with her when she left the apartment.

When the police tried to enquire about the stains and her son, the accused said the blood stains were due to her monthly periods. "She also told us that her son was with her friend in Margao town (in South Goa) and provided the address," the official said.

Naik said he immediately took the help of Fatorda police (near Margao) and found that the address provided by the accused was fake.

Consequently, the police asked the driver, who was on the way to Bengaluru, to take the car to the nearest police station. The police in Chitradurga checked the woman's bag in which they found the body of the child, Naik said. She was arrested immediately.

The accused's husband, Venkat Raman, who is currently in Jakarta, has also been informed about the situation.

(With PTI inputs)