(DailyAnswer.org) – An Indian AI developer has been arrested on suspicion of murdering her 4-year-old son. Suchana Seth, CEO of the Bengaluru-based AI ethics startup the Mindful AI Lab, was arrested on January 8th, 2024 by police in Karnataka while returning from the neighboring Goa state by taxi after her son’s body was discovered in her luggage. The motive behind the killing remains unclear, but during interrogation, Seth hinted at difficult relations with her estranged husband. The couple’s divorce proceedings began in 2022.
After staying in a room at the coastal destination for two days, Seth requested hotel staff book her a taxi back to Bengaluru, roughly 350 miles away. When the staff suggested that a plane would be quicker she insisted on a taxi. The police contacted Seth’s taxi driver and asked him to drive to the nearest police station, where the boy’s body was discovered, due to hotel staff discovering and reporting blood stains in the room after Seth left. According to police, when the mother was asked about the blood stains in the room over the phone, she claimed they were due to her menstrual cycle. Despite Seth claiming her son was already dead when she woke up, a post-mortem has suggested that Seth smothered her son after giving him a heavy dose of cough syrup, as two empty bottles of the medicine were found at the scene.
The company’s website described the CEO as an expert in AI ethics, a data scientist and a physicist. She was also reported by the media to have attempted suicide at the hotel. According to North Goa police Superintendent Nidhin Valsan, Seth was unhappy with the court ruling that allowed her husband, Venkatraman PR, access to her son on Sundays. Indian media reported that he was physically abusive towards both Seth and her son, claims that she backed up with medical documents and WhatsApp chats.
Seth messaged Venkatraman on January 6th asking if he could meet her son the next day, despite her hotel booking in Goa running from the 6th to the 10th. When the son did not show up, Venkatraman, now settled in Indonesia, tried calling Seth to find out what was happening before leaving for Jakarta on a business trip. He returned to give their son his last rites on January 10th.
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