Timely and appropriate communication proved to be key as Goa Police nabbed Suchana Seth, the 39-year-old AI startup CEO, accused of murdering her 4-year-old son. From alert hotel staff to a cab driver who kept his nerve under immense pressure, it was citizens who helped the Goa Police trap the accused, possibly bringing the curtains down on a horrifying murder.

On Monday, the Chitradurga Police in Karnataka arrested Suchana along with the body of her dead 4-year-old son stuffed in a bag from a cab that she was travelling in from Goa to Bengaluru. However, the series of events that led to Suchana’s arrest 200 km from her destination in Bengaluru was only possible due to some very alert citizens.

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The horrifying crime may have gone completely unnoticed had it not been for the alert housekeeping staff at the Sol Banyan Grande in North Goa’s Candolim area. It was the housekeeping staff that first noticed some “red-coloured” stains in the service apartment that Suchana had just checked out from. The staff immediately informed her superiors who wasted no time to inform the Goa Police about the finding.

A team from the Calangute police station rushed to the spot and verified the claims. They also sifted through the CCTV footage of the hotel. They found that Suchana, who had checked in on Saturday with a 4-year-old boy, checked out alone. The hotel authorities also informed the police that Suchana insisted on taking a cab from Goa to Bengaluru despite the staff trying to convince her to take a flight since a cab would be expensive.

Also Read: Start-up CEO ‘kills’ her 4-year-old son at Goa apartment, arrested while fleeing with body in bag

It had already been a few hours since Suchana had left when the police team contacted the cab driver on his cell phone. “Through the cab driver, the police officer made contact with the woman and asked about the whereabouts of the boy. She said the boy has been asked to stay with one of her friends in Madgaon. SI Paresh insisted for the details of the address. She gave an address which was verified by PI Fatorda and was found to be fake,” said North Goa SP Nidhin Valsan.

As per the official, the police grew extremely suspicious and immediately asked the driver to take the cab to the nearest police station, which happened to be the Aimangla police station in Chitradurga district. “The taxi was already in the CHitradurg district when the call was made,” the North Goa SP said.

The communication between SI Paresh from Goa Police and the cab driver turned out to be key in the subsequent arrest of the woman CEO. Speaking in Konkani to avoid Suchana getting a whiff of their plan, SI Paresh asked the cab driver to immediately drive the car to the Aimangla police station.

Having understood the gravity of the situation, the cab driver complied and drove to the police station as instructed without evoking any suspicion from Suchana. “The police officials at the Aimangla police station checked the vehicle and the luggage. When the luggage was opened, the dead body of the boy was found,” SP Valsan said.

The Calangute Police has registered an FIR under Sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and Section 8 of the Goa Children’s Act on the basis of the complaint filed by the supervisor of the hotel. A team left from Goa to Chitradurg and was arrested there. She was produced before a court there and brought to Goa on transit remand. The body of the 4-year-old boy has been preserved at the government hospital in Chitradurga where the post-mortem will be conducted, the officer said.