Attempting to throw the police off her scent after they had found bloodstains in the hotel room where she allegedly killed her four-year-old son, Suchana Seth tried to explain them away by claiming she was on her period, officials said.
The 39-year-old CEO of an artificial intelligence company, who has now been remanded in police custody for six days, had left her room at the Sol Banyan Grande in Goa on Monday, when police were tipped off by hotel staff that they had not seen her son with her when she was checking out. The staff members also told the police that bloodstains had been spotted in her room, and she was carrying an unusually heavy bag.
READ | Bloodstains, Clever Cab Driver: How CEO Accused Of Son's Murder Was Caught
Police officials called up Seth, who was in a cab in Karnataka's Chitradurga district - around 200 km from her destination, Bengaluru - and asked her where her son was. She told them that he was at a friend's place.
When Seth was asked about the blood, she said she was menstruating. "The accused told us that the bloodstains were due to her monthly periods. She also told us that her son was with her friend in Margao town (South Goa) and provided the address," Inspector Paresh Naik of the Calangute Police Station told news agency PTI.
READ | Why Did Start-Up CEO Suchana Seth Allegedly Kill Her Son? What Police Said
Mr Naik said he immediately took the help of Fatorda police (near Margao) and found that the address given by her was fake.
Alert Cabbie
Police officials then spoke to the cab driver in Konkani to avoid alerting Seth and asked him to take her to the nearest police station. That's when the four-year-old's body was found in her bag and she was arrested.
Seth, who is the CEO of Mindful AI Lab, was brought to Goa on Tuesday and produced before a court in Mapusa, which has remanded her in police custody for six days.
READ | Suchana Seth, Accused Of Killing Young Son In Goa, Was Separated
Senior police officer Nidhin Valsan said the boy's father is a businessman from Kerala and Seth and he are in the final stages of their divorce. He is in Indonesia and has been asked to come home.
"Prima facie... the woman said her relationship with her husband is not good. Their divorce, she said, is almost finalised, and there is some court order due to which she was unhappy," he said, adding, "All these details have to be verified. The investigation is ongoing."