Child allegedly killed by CEO mother cremated, pre-planned murder suspected
Bengaluru/Panaji (PTI): The four-year old boy allegedly killed by his mother, CEO of a Bengaluru-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup, was cremated in the Karnataka capital on Wednesday as it emerged in investigations by the Goa police that it may have been a pre-planned murder.
A teary-eyed Venkat Raman, the estranged husband of the 39-year-old Suchana Seth, hailing from West Bengal, performed the last rites at Harishchandra Ghat at Rajaji Nagar here.
Meanwhile, the Goa police have found two empty bottles of a cough syrup in a room where the CEO of Mindful AI allegedly killed the boy, indicating she might have given a heavy dose of the medicine to him and that it was pre-planned murder, an official said.
The post-mortem has revealed the child was smothered to death either with a cloth or a pillow, according to officials.
Seth, who was reportedly upset with the ongoing divorce proceedings with her husband, allegedly killed her son in the apartment at Candolim in Goa and stuffed the body in a bag before taking it to neighbouring Karnataka in a taxi, police said.
Seth, who was on her way to Bengaluru, was arrested from Chitradurga in Karnataka on Monday night on the instructions of Goa police and brought to Goa on Tuesday.
A senior police officer told PTI that during the inspection of the service apartment room where the woman stayed, they found two empty bottles (one big and another small) of a cough syrup.
"The post-mortem conducted on the body has indicated the possibility that the child might have been smothered to death and there were no signs of struggle," he said.
"We are examining the possibility of the woman giving a heavy dose of cough syrup to the child before putting him to death," the official said.
Enquiries with the service apartment staff revealed the woman had asked them to buy a small bottle of a cough syrup claiming she was having a cough, he said, adding the bigger bottle might have been carried by her.
"It looks like a pre-planned murder," the official said.
According to police sources, the accused has denied her involvement in the crime during the interrogation and claimed the child was already dead when she got up from sleep.
"We don't buy her theory. Further investigation will reveal the motive behind killing the child. As of now, we know that she and her husband were estranged because of which she might have done this," a senior police official said.
Seth checked into the service apartment on January 6 and stayed there till January 8 before leaving for Bengaluru in a taxi.
Following her arrest, a court in Mapusa town of Goa on Tuesday remanded her in police custody for six days.
The child's father, Venkat Raman, who hails from Kerala but is now based in Indonesia, reached Hiriyur in Chitradurga district on Tuesday night and took possession of his son's body after the post-mortem.
"He was strangled to death or what we call smothering. Either a cloth or a pillow was used. The child died due to strangulation. It doesn't look like the child was strangulated using hands. It looks like a pillow or some other material was used," Hiriyur Taluk Hospital's administrative officer Dr Kumar Naik told reporters.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Seth is an AI ethics expert and data scientist with over 12 years of experience in mentoring data science teams, and scaling machine learning solutions at startups and industry research labs.
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Sujit Nair raises concerns over speculation of DMK-AIADMK understanding to block TVK
Chennai: Journalist and political commentator Sujit Nair has expressed concern over speculation that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam could explore a post-poll understanding to prevent Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam from forming the government in Tamil Nadu.
In a social media post, Sujit Nair said the election verdict in Tamil Nadu reflected a clear public demand for political change and argued that the mandate should be respected irrespective of political preferences.
Referring to reports and political discussions surrounding a possible understanding between the DMK and AIADMK, he said he hoped such developments remained only speculative conversations and did not turn into reality.
Nair stated that if such an alliance were to take shape, it would raise serious questions about ideological politics in the country. He said TVK had emerged through a democratic electoral process and that the legitimacy to govern in a parliamentary democracy comes from the people’s verdict.
According to him, attempts to prevent an electoral winner from forming the government through unexpected political arrangements may be constitutionally valid, but many people could view them as politically opportunistic.
He further said that such a move could particularly affect the political image of the DMK, which has historically projected itself around ideology, social justice and opposition politics. Nair said that in ideological terms, the DMK appeared closer to TVK than to the AIADMK, and joining hands with its long-time political rival only to remain in power could weaken its broader political narrative.
He added that the same questions would apply to the AIADMK as well, as the party had spent decades positioning itself against the DMK and such an arrangement could create discomfort among its cadre and supporters.
Drawing a comparison with Maharashtra politics in 2019, Nair said he had expressed similar views when the Shiv Sena formed an alliance with the Indian National Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party after the Assembly elections.
He said post-poll alliances between long-standing political rivals often create a public perception that ideology and electoral mandates become secondary when political power equations come into play.
Nair also said such developments increase public cynicism towards politics and reinforce the belief among voters that ideology is often sidelined after elections.
He maintained that the Tamil Nadu verdict was emphatic and said respecting both the spirit and substance of the mandate was important for the credibility of democratic politics.
