Alert hotel staff in Candolim and the presence of mind of the Calangute police and a cab driver helped nab Suchana Seth, who was fleeing from Goa with the body of her 4-year-old son stuffed in a suitcase after allegedly killing him.
Suchana had rented a villa at Sol Banyan Grande Hotel in Candolim in North Goa on Sunday with her son and checked out on Monday, asking for a cab to Bengaluru.
Sources said that even though the hotel staff said that a flight was more convenient and cheaper, she insisted on a cab. The hotel staff reportedly informed the police after they found blood stains in the villa.
Calangute Police Inspector Paresh Naik called the cab driver and spoke to the woman inquiring about her missing son, to which she said she had left him with a friend in Margao, whose address turned out to be false.
Alarmed by this, Mr. Naik again called the cab driver and directed him to drive into the nearest police station while being on call with him, but without alerting the woman passenger.
As the cab drove into Aimangala police station at 1.30 p.m. on Monday, the cab driver handed over the call to the policemen at the station, who was briefed by Mr. Naik from Goa.
“The lady looked surprised. However, she did not resist,” said one of the officers present at the police station when the incident happened.
To their shock, the police discovered the body of the four-year-old boy child in a suitcase. Sources in the Chitradurga police said that the boy did not have any visible external injuries on the body, except for some bleeding in his nose.
The police said that the boy was probably suffocated to death with a pillow. The autopsy will be conducted at the government hospital in Hiriyur.
“She was clearly disturbed, and she hardly spoke to us. She remained silent and did not respond to any of our questions. But she had an injury on her wrist and seemed to have attempted to take her life as well,” the officer at Aimangala station said.
