The parents of Suchir Balaji, an Indian-American techie found dead in his San Francisco apartment on December 14, 2024, have rejected the official suicide ruling and are demanding a murder investigation. Balaji, a former OpenAI employee, was known for his whistleblowing on ethical concerns regarding generative AI.
Balaji’s mother, Poornima Rao, expressed her disbelief over the suicide verdict, citing the findings of a private autopsy which contradicted the police’s cause of death. In a social media post, she called for an FBI investigation and tagged high-profile figures, including entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and California Governor Gavin Newsom, to bring attention to the case.
In an interview with NDTV, the parents revealed that the second autopsy report showed signs of struggle, including head trauma, contradicting the initial suicide conclusion. Poornima Rao stated that the lack of a suicide note further supported their belief that it was not a suicide but a murder. …