The ongoing week in Bengaluru has been dominated by the news of startup CEO Suchana Seth, who was arrested on Monday after being caught for travelling in a cab with the deceased body of her four-year-old son, inside a bag.
In a further revelation, the driver who was tasked to take her from Goa to Karnataka-33-year-old Ray John- said that Seth was in a rush, but when the vehicle reached Chorla Ghat she behaved indifferently and was quiet during their 16-hour journey, a report in Deccan Herald said.
"She seemed to be in a great hurry when she booked the cab. But at Chorla Ghat, she was quiet and indifferent as if she had all the time in the world," John told Deccan Herald in an interview.
The man further said that he quoted Rs 30,000 for the 600 km journey from Goa to Bengaluru and Seth agreed, without trying to bargain or asking any questions.
John reached the hotel in Goa's Cantolim area, where Seth was put up, at around 12:30 am on Monday and was accompanied by another driver named Devraj Shinde.
As John picked Seth's trolley to place it into the cab, he found it heavy and on asking Seth why that was the case, he was informed that lot of clothes had been stuffed inside.
The cab left soon enough and after reaching Chorla Ghat, John had to stop as the road had been blocked due to an accident. He later learnt that roadblock would take seven hours and asked Seth if she would be keen to take a flight to Bengaluru.
However, Seth was insistent on continuing the journey on road, which the driver found odd. The journey resumed around 6 am and a few hours after having breakfast on the outskirts of Dharwad, John got a call from Calangute police.
The two conversed in Konkani when police officials asked him the number of people travelling with him in the cab and specifically wished to know if the woman was travelling with a child.
When John said that was not the case, police authorities got suspicious. They asked him to pull over and disconnected the call, but called back again a few minutes later and enquired about a child's presence with the woman.
The driver replied in the negative again and officials asked him to pass the phone to Seth. The CEO informed the police that she had left her son with a friend in Margao and gave them an address which did not exist.
On hearing her side of the story, police officials informed John that the woman had checked into the hotel with her child and had found bloodstains in the room.
John was then asked to reach the nearest police station and connect to an official. Google Maps indicated, albeit incorrectly, that the nearest police station was 150 km behind. He chose not to follow the map indications and continued to proceed forward.
Calangute police authorities continued to call him and asked him to pull over, the moment he saw a police official. However, with all signboards in Kannada, he found it difficult to locate a police station.
He then suggested to police officials that he would pull over when he saw a hotel. On finding a restaurant, the driver pulled over and both him and Shinde got down the cab.
When Seth asked them for the reason, they informed her they were going to use the washroom. John asked a passerby about the nearest police station and was informed it was 500m away.
John resumed the journey and turned his vehicle to the station, situated in Karnataka's Chitradurga district. Seth asked him why they had stopped and John informed her about his conversation with police officials, during the journey.
Seth became quiet and expressionless and resigned to her fate. A policewoman arrested her and officials seized John's vehicle for further investigation. Seth was sent into custody for six days and take to Panaji where she was sent for medical examination.
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