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

The CEO of a Bengaluru-based start-up was arrested on Monday night from Chitradurg in Karnataka on the charge of allegedly killing her 4-year-old son at a posh service apartment in Goa. The accused, identified as Suchana Seth (39), CEO of artificial intelligence start-up Mindful AI Lab, was arrested in Karnataka while attempting to flee in a cab with the body of her son stuffed in a bag, police said.

Preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused woman cited an “estranged relationship” with her husband as one of the reasons for committing the crime, police said, according to The Indian Express.

As per the police, the woman checked in to a luxury apartment in North Goa’s Candolim on Saturday and checked out on Monday morning. The incident came to light after one of the staffers reported blood stains from the apartment where the woman and her son were staying. The hotel management then contacted the Goa police which then rushed to the spot.

“While reviewing CCTV footage, it was seen that the accused had left the hotel without her son and was carrying a bag. During the investigation, the hotel staff said the woman had asked the receptionist to arrange a cab to take her to Bengaluru. The hotel staff had advised her to take a flight instead since a cab would be expensive, but the accused insisted on taking a cab,” an officer investigating the case said.

The Goa Police then contacted the cab driver and also spoke to the accused over the phone enquiring about her son. According to the police, the woman claimed that her son was with a friend in Fatorda in Goa. As her answers raised suspicion, the police asked the driver to take the cab to the nearest police station.

“At the police station in Chitradurga, Karnataka police found the body of the boy stuffed in her bag and detained her,” said a police officer.

Seth’s LinkedIn profile claims she is an Artificial Intelligence ethics expert with an experience of 12 years in data science and the startup industry. It also claims that she was on the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics List, and was a Fellow at the Berkman Klein Centre at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts.