Panaji: The estranged husband of Suchana Seth, the AI start up CEO accused of killing her four-year-old child, on Saturday told Goa police she had not allowed him to meet their child for the past five Sundays. Venkat Raman arrived at Calangute police station in the afternoon from Bengaluru to record his statement before investigating officer (IO) Paresh Naik as part of the probe.
Seth allegedly smothered her son to death in a service apartment in Candolim in north Goa, packed his corpse in a bag and hailed a taxi to go back to Bengaluru but was arrested mid-way on January 8 in Chitradurga in Karnataka, as per police. While Raman refused to speak to the media, his lawyer said the former was "numb" with grief.
"He can die for his son but will now have to live without him. My client has no claim for justice for himself or the child, who is no more," the lawyer told reporters. He said he did not know what led to the killing, adding that only Seth would be able to say why she committed such an act.
"The trigger for the offence is just a guess. Maybe she did not want the child to meet his father or have emotional connect," the lawyer said. He said a custody battle for the child was underway in a family court in Bengaluru for the past one year. "Initially the court had allowed the father to speak to the child over phone or through video call. In November, the court allowed the father to visit the child at home," he said.
"Suchana had insisted the father should meet his son in a child friendly environment like some cafe. Raman was supposed to meet his son on January 7 in Bengaluru. He went to the house at 10am and waited till 11am. He sent a message to Suchana but got no reply," the lawyer claimed. Seth and Raman got married in 2010 and filed for divorce after eight years, he added.
Earlier in the day, a police official said Raman, in his statement, had claimed Seth did not allow him to meet his son for the past five Sundays. According to police, the woman smothered her son to death before trying to commit suicide by slashing her wrist.
