The four-year-old son of Suchana Seth, the 39-year-old CEO of Bengaluru-based Mindful AI Lab, was smothered to death, at least 36 hours prior to the post-mortem examination. Dr Kumar Naik, a government doctor in Karnataka who conducted the post-mortem, said while speaking to reporters that there were no wounds or signs of struggle, suggesting the use of a pillow or a wire in the act. The absence of rigor mortis (rigor mortis means stiffening of the limbs caused by chemical changes in the muscles) indicated that the murder occurred at least 36 hours earlier.
"The child has been smothered or strangulated. There are no wounds or signs of struggle. He could have probably died after being suffocated by a pillow or some other object. The child doesn't seem like he was killed by strangulation using hands. The killing took place over 36 hours ago. His face and chest are swollen due to suffocation. And the child's nose was bleeding,” Dr Kumar Naik said.
According to media reports, Suchana attempted suicide after allegedly killing her son. Suchana and her son were in Goa at the time and her suicide attempt by slashing her wrists led to the discovery of blood specks by the hotel’s cleaning staff.
Suchana and her son checked into a rented service apartment in Candolim, North Goa, on January 6. After a two-day stay, she departed for Bengaluru in a taxi on January 8. Concerns arose when the apartment staff reported that her son was not seen during her departure, and blood stains were found in the apartment.
CCTV footage confirmed that Suchana entered the apartment with her son but left alone. Calangute police contacted the taxi driver en route to Bengaluru, instructing him to take Suchana to the nearest police station, Aimangala police station in Chitradurga district in Karnataka, without alerting her. Following her arrest in Chitradurga on January 8, a Goa court has remanded Suchana Seth to six days of police custody for the alleged murder of her four-year-old son. She was brought to Goa on January 9 and produced before a court in Mapusa town.