Bengaluru CEO Suchana Seth confronted by husband over son's murder: ‘Why did you do this?’

Goa murder: Suchana Seth and PR Venkat Raman came face to face at the Calangute police station and what followed was later described by cops as a “blame game”.

Suchana Seth, a Bengaluru-based CEO of artificial intelligence start-up Mindful AI Lab who allegedly killed her four-year-old son, was made to confront her estranged husband PR Venkat Raman by the Goa Police on Saturday. While the confrontation lasted 15 minutes, Venkat Raman asked Suchana Seth why she killed their child.

Suchana Setha and estranged husband PR Venkat Raman

The estranged couple, whose divorce process is underway, came face to face at the Calangute police station and what followed was later described by the police as a “blame game”. “When they faced each other, it led to arguments between the two. Venkatraman asked her ‘what have you done to my child? How could you do this to me?’ To which, Suchana replied she hadn’t done anything,” a police officer told HT about the meeting.

India Today reported that during the confrontation, when Venkat asked about the murder of their child, Suchana replied that she didn't know anything about the death. Interestingly, Suchana Seth gave similar statements to the Goa Police. In her police statements, the Mindful AI Lab CEO said fell asleep when her son, at the service apartment in Goa, was alive and when she woke up, the child was found dead.

“He (Venkat) vented his anger and asked her ‘why did you do this?’ She replied, ‘I did not commit the crime’. There was a brief verbal argument, where both blamed each other,” The Indian Express quoted a police officer as saying.

Venkat Raman records statement

The confrontation comes after Venkat Raman was deposed before the Goa Police and recorded his statement before investigating officer (IO) Paresh Naik as part of the probe. Venkat Raman claimed that he last met his son on December 10 and that Suchana had not allowed him to meet their child for the past five Sundays in violation of the court order.

While Venkat Raman refused to speak to the media, his lawyer, Azhar Meer, said the father who just lost his son was “numb” with grief.

“Bacche ko kya justice milega? Maybe as a society, we will say there should be justice. But… jo gaya wo wapas nahi aane wala… It does not matter who wins or loses. The child is always at a loss in this. I don’t think he cares what happens after his. Whether Suchana Seth goes to jail or she gets bail or she is convicted or not,” Meer was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

"He can die for his son but will now have to live without him…," Meer added.

The lawyers said Venkant Raman did not know what led to the killing, adding that only Suchana Seth would be able to say why she committed such an act.

"The trigger for the offence is just a guess. Maybe she did not want the child to meet his father or have an emotional connect," he added.

“The custody case of their son has been going on in the Bengaluru family court for the last one year or so,” the lawyer said. “Initially the court had allowed the father to speak to the child over phone or through video call. Subsequently, he was allowed to meet once in two weeks within the court, later in a public place. In November, the court allowed the father to visit the child at home from morning till evening,” he added.

Was not allowed to meet son for past five Sundays: Venkat Raman

Venkat Raman told the Goa Police that Suchana Seth had not allowed him to meet their child for the past five Sundays. He met his son for the last time on Sunday, December 10, the lawyer said.

“On January 6 (Saturday), Suchana wrote an email to Venkat asking him to come to Sadashiv Nagar in Bengaluru and pick up his son from there on Sunday. He had gone there at 10am and waited for one hour before returning home. Later that evening, he left for work (to Indonesia),” Meer claimed. “He sent a message to Suchana but got no reply.”

NDTV, quoting the lawyer, reported that the estranged husband was not aware that his wife and child were in Goa and he went to the designated meeting spot, waited for an hour, sent her a WhatsApp message and two e-mails asking if everything was okay, and then left when she did not turn up.

Child was smothered to death

Suchana Seth allegedly smothered her son to death in a service apartment in Candolim in north Goa, packed his corpse in a bag and hailed a taxi to go back to Bengaluru but was arrested mid-way on January 8 in Chitradurga in Karnataka, the police said.

(With inputs from Gerard de Souza in Panaji)