Bengaluru CEO May Have Caused Child's Death By Smothering, Post-Mortem Reveals

The four-year-old son of Bengaluru start-up founder Suchana Seth died due to suffocation after being smothered with a pillow by his mother, resulting in death by suffocation, the preliminary examination of the body revealed, NDTV reported.

The postmortem is being performed at the Hiriyur Hospital mortuary while the child's mother has been arrested and sent to police custody for questioning. "The child was smothered," Dr Kumar Naik, the postmortem examination, told the reporters.

"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," he claimed.

Suchana Seth, the CEO of The Mindful AI Lab, was arrested near Chitradurga in Karnataka on Monday while carrying her four-year-old son's body in a bag.

According to police, the woman had checked into a rented service apartment at Candolim in North Goa with her son on January 6 and after staying there for two days, she went to Bengaluru in a taxi on Monday.

Calangute police station Inspector Paresh Naik said Seth checked into a Candolim service apartment on January 6 with her son. After two days, she told the hotel staff that she want to travel to Bengaluru for work and requested them to arrange a taxi despite staff suggesting a cheaper flight option.

When the staff discovered bloodstains in her room after she checked out of the hotel, they immediately informed the Goa police. They also noted Seth's departure without her son and carrying an unusually heavy bag.

Upon inquiry, Seth attributed the bloodstains to her menstrual cycle, claiming her son was with a friend in Margao. However, the investigation revealed the provided address was false.

The police contacted the taxi driver heading to Bengaluru and redirected him to the nearest police station in Chitradurga, Karnataka, where she was briefly detained.

An offence was registered against Seth at the Calangute police station in Goa under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence), and also under the Goa Children's Act, they said.

According to Seth's LinkedIn page, she is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of start-up Mindful AI Lab and was among the top '100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics for 2021'.

Meanwhile, a court in Goa remanded the chief executive officer (CEO) of a start-up company to six days of police custody.