The suspected murder of a 4-year-old boy in a Candolim service apartment has taken Goa by shock with the post-mortem report revealing that he was “smothered” with a pillow or a cloth. The medical report pointed to signs of suffocation with swelling of the face and chest clearing indicating that the child was done to death. The incident has cast a web of questions around the plot and the motive, beginning with whether it was premeditated or a spontaneous act of anger or revenge. Also intriguing is the timing of the Goa visit when the father was scheduled to take custody of the son on Sunday, a day later. Also suspicious is the doses of syrup administered to the child and that was used as a sedative.
The choice of a service apartment in Goa is baffling because of the high chances of inviting suspicion during check-out formalities, especially when two persons are checking in. Also surprising because Suchana Seth could have picked a secluded place or a safer place if murder was on her mind. Another question is about her decision to take the baggage back home when she could have got rid of it along the way.
On the flip side, the suspect has not shown any remorse or reacted emotionally after the incident, and has been evasive to police questioning. Another baffling element is why the mother would murder her son over custody the issue when it was yet to be decided by the court. Or, if it was about settling scores with her husband, where does the murder of the son come into the picture? The murder narrative revolves around the discord between Suhana Seth and her former husband and reports suggest that there were a series of calls between the two even on the day of the murder.
Just at a time when Goa was coming to terms with the news of tourism taking a beating and desi tourists creating a nuisance in the State, this heinous crime has opened up another scary dimension of tourists using Goa as a destination to execute criminal activities. Goans who live with scars of migrants engaging in robberies and crimes have now been jolted with the thought of tourists coming to the State with a plan to execute gory crimes on the lines of those witnessed in other high-crime states like Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, etc.
Thankfully in the Candolim case, the presence of mind shown by the staff at the service apartment, the timely intervention by Calangute police and the cooperation of the taxi driver together helped in steering the case in the right direction in the nick of time. The larger question is whether we can have tighter protocols and systems in place to screen tourists coming in with crime in mind and whether that would help in tracking crimes committed within the privacy of four walls.
While the police are on their job of getting to the bottom of the case and seeking answers to the many questions, Goans hold the hope that the guilty will be brought to justice so that this case stands as a deterrent to criminals who consider the State as a cozy destination for a kill.
