Indian-origin woman slits son's throat after Disneyland trip amid custody battle

India Today

A 48-year-old Indian-origin woman, Saritha Ramaraju, has been charged with murder for slitting her son's throat after a Disneyland vacation in the US.

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00:00We have some breaking news that's coming in.

00:03An Indian-origin woman has slit her son's throat in the US.

00:0748-year-old Sarita Ram Raju has been charged with the murder of her son.

00:13Sarita killed her son after a Disneyland trip.

00:16Sarita was fighting a custody battle, is what we know.

00:19The custody battle is ongoing with her ex-husband since 2018.

00:23Sarita has been charged with one felony for use of knife.

00:30An Indian-origin woman has been charged with slitting her son's throat after a Disneyland vacation, is what we're learning.

00:43Sarita Ram Raju, 48 years old, has been charged with one felony count of murder for slitting her son's throat,

00:48killing the boy after they went on a vacation to Disneyland during a custody visit.

00:52She's also been charged with one felony enhancement of personal use of a weapon.

00:58She'd moved out of California after divorcing the boy's father in 2018,

01:02with whom she was fighting a custody battle since 2018.

01:08Sarita has been charged with one felony for the use of knife,

01:11and this happened after a Disneyland trip.

01:13My colleague Geeta Mohan is joining me on the phone line with more details.

01:17Geeta, shocking news that is coming in from the United States,

01:20where we're learning that an Indian-origin woman slit her son's throat.

01:24What more details can you give us about this?

01:27Well, it's a case of crime, and the woman has been booked.

01:31She's an Indian-origin woman, Sarita Ram Raju, like you rightly said.

01:35And it was a young couple, they were going through divorce.

01:38The custody was with the father, and so she had gone back for the divorce case,

01:44and also to hand over the child.

01:47After staying with him for three days, she booked themselves for Disneyland for three days.

01:53And then the day before the handover was to happen to the father,

02:00she did what she did, which is take her own son's life.

02:03And she also had taken pills in an act of dying by suicide,

02:11but that did not happen.

02:12It was a failed attempt, because she already called the agencies

02:16and informed them in the morning at around 9, 12 a.m.

02:22that she's in such-and-such hotel and that she's killed her son,

02:26and that she's taken pills.

02:28So she was taken in, and her system was flushed out.

02:32She survived the attempt and now is being charged.

02:36It is one of the saddest and very heinous, so to say,

02:41crimes that we are witnessing in the United States of America.

02:45The judge also opined, very, very rightly so,

02:49that anger makes you forget who you love and what you're responsible for doing.

02:53Also saying that sometimes the hate between two people

02:57takes precedence over love for your child.

02:59So really, really sad.

03:01And we'll have to wait and see what really happens

03:04in terms of the pronouncement of judgment and how the case moves forward.

03:09That's right, Geeta.

03:10But do we know anything about the motive behind the murder?

03:14Why she killed her son?

03:15Because we know that there was a custody battle

03:17that she was fighting with her ex-husband since 2018.

03:19You think that could have been a reason?

03:21Well, absolutely.

03:23While we are still awaiting her statement on motive,

03:28but the fact is that the report that has been put out clearly says

03:32that it was a custody battle with her husband, Prakash Raju,

03:38and that the child was to be with Prakash Raju

03:41till the time the custody battle was over.

03:44And in the meanwhile, she was taking all the decisions for the child,

03:48which she was not okay with, without her input.

03:51And she's alleged that there were substance abuse issues as well.

03:58Again, details are yet to come out.

04:01She must have given her statement to the agency.

04:05And we'll have to wait and see what really happens

04:09with regards to Sarita Ramaraju,

04:12who is the accused in the case and the culprit,

04:15since she has already confessed,

04:18but also Prakash Raju and what happened with the child

04:23while the child was either in his custody or her custody.

04:28Absolutely, Geeta.

04:29Thanks for bringing us details on that story.

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