Engineer allegedly used AI to plan triple murder as police seek chatbot logs
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Crime Scene. Hindustan Times via Getty Images.
- Police allege the suspect used an AI chatbot to research killing methods, body disposal and cleaning bloodstains.
- Investigators have requested six months of chatbot logs to support the prosecution's digital evidence.
- Police say financial strain and family resentment drove the alleged triple murder plot.
- Detectives believe extreme social isolation helped the pair lose sight of real-world consequences.
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An engineer and his partner reportedly committed a triple murder in Bengaluru, India, spending 6 months consulting a popular AI chatbot before the killings.
Police allege the engineer sought advice on how to murder, as well as methods for getting rid of bodies and removing bloodstains.
Investigators say that nearly every stage of the alleged plot was researched through AI conversations, with police claiming the suspect, Kenneth, even asked about burning bodies after building an iron furnace intended for a planned cloud kitchen, a commercial kitchen used to prepare food for delivery only.
Kenneth and his partner, Shwetha Somasundar, both aged 25, were arrested by local police after the June 22nd murders of Shwetha's mother, father, and younger sister.
Police say the chatbot was a "roadmap" that helped shape the alleged plan, and have requested the suspect's complete AI chat history from the platform's parent company, which so far remains unnamed.
As reported in The Indian Express, the police statement described:
“When the murder thought entered his head, he consulted the AI tool, which indicated the merits and demerits of incinerating bodies before disposal.”
Financial and resentful motives
The alleged motive centered on money, family conflict, and resentment toward his partner Shwetha's mother, with claims that Shwetha feared having to repay roughly 5 million Indian rupees (around $60,000) borrowed from her mother.
The mother, Muthulakshmi, was lured to the apartment first before allegedly being stabbed 26 times.
Subsequently, Shwetha's father and younger sister allegedly arrived separately and were also attacked. Police say the suspects later traveled to Shwetha's parental home in southeast Bengaluru to steal cash and silver ornaments before fleeing to nearby Puducherry.
The suspects allegedly then fled to nearby Puducherry after discarding the younger sister Supriya's mobile phone.
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Crucially, the case turned when father Somasundar crawled from the apartment, blood-soaked, as neighbors found him lying on the staircase. He identified both suspects before dying in the hospital.
Police describe both suspects as living in extreme social isolation despite professional backgrounds, claiming Kenneth had become largely cut off from friends while Shwetha became financially dependent on him.
Shwetha had previously held a job at an international social media news company, but became more isolated after losing it.
And according to police, the pair processed real-world consequences as if they were playing a computer game, with AI seemingly playing a major role in it.
