B’luru CEO fed high dose of cough syrup before smothering son to death: Sources

BENGALURU: Investigation has revealed that the accused CEO mother from Bengaluru gave a high dose of cough syrup before strangling her 4-year-old son to death in a Goa service apartment, police sources said on Thursday.

The Goa Police have recovered two empty bottles of cough syrup from the room where accused Suchana Seth, CEO of a Bengaluru-based Artificial Intelligence startup company stayed for two nights and committed the crime.

After making the baby gulp down a higher dosage of syrup, the accused had smothered him with a pillow. There is no trace of the child struggling before death and it is because the boy was in a state of dizziness, police sources stated.

When the cops had inquired about the cough syrup bottles with the hotel staff, they had told that accused Suchana Seth had claimed that she had cough and got the syrup bottles, police said.

The police are waiting for the post-mortem report in this regard. The doctors had confirmed that the death of the child had taken place due to suffocation. The accused Suchana Seth was taken to the Goa Medical College and Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour for medical evaluation.

The police have also issued notice to her former husband Venkataramana to appear before the Goa Police for questioning. Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant reacting to the development had stated that instructions were given to the police to dwell deep into the case.

The investigation into the murder of a 4-year-old son by a startup CEO mother in Goa has taken a twist with the police suspecting that the accused, 39-year-old Suchana Seth, was planning the crime for a long time and was cooking up the story of attempt to suicide.

Sources said that Suchana Seth, had put up a post on social media by putting the picture of her son and giving the hashtag "what will happen to him?" The police sources said that the post was written on October 10, 2023 and the development had aroused suspicion on pre-planning of the murder by the accused mother.

Sources also said that Venkataramana, the father, after getting entitled to visitation rights had arrived from Jakarta in Indonesia to Bengaluru to meet his son on Sunday. He had brought toys and new clothes for the child.

But, Suchana Seth had taken the kid to Goa on Saturday. Venkataramana made several phone calls and video calls to her but they remained unanswered.

Accused Suchana Seth, had claimed that she attempted to render her son unconscious to stop him from talking to his father over video call by pressing the pillow on his face and the child was suffocated to death.

Seth had claimed that later she attempted to commit suicide by slashing her hands, but failed. Not about to figure out what to do in the situation, she stuffed the body into a suitcase and checked out of the hotel.

The investigation has shown that the deceased boy had spoken to his father over video call on Sunday. Seth had confessed that she did not want her son to talk to his father at all.

The preliminary investigation has revealed that she committed the crime to deny her ex-husband access to the child after a court granted him visitation rights.

Goa Police in coordination with Karnataka cops had arrested Seth after the incident came to light when the housekeeping staff found blood stains in the room she had stayed in.

After checking out, the accused had come out with a big suitcase to head for Bengaluru. As she was boarding the taxi, the hotel staff, who had seen her son, enquired about the child.

The accused informed the staff that he had been sent to her relative’s place and left the hotel. However, the hotel staff got suspicious after housekeeping staff found blood stains in her room and called the police.

After getting the information from the hotel, the Goa Police got the contact number of the taxi driver and asked him to stop as soon as he spotted a police station on the National Highway.

Accordingly, the taxi driver stopped the vehicle near Imangala Police Station. The Goa Police had briefed their Karnataka counterparts about the development. The police found the body of the child in the trunk of the car inside the suitcase.