By Brad Spiegel
Arjun Aravind, the Acton teenager accused of killing his mother and brother and was found in a Wayland parking lot, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges in Middlesex Superior Court on Oct. 6.
Aravind, 17, is charged with two counts of murder, two counts of assault and battery on a family or household member, and two counts of assault and battery. He is accused of killing his mother, Sudha Venkatesan, 45, and his brother, Siddarth Aravind, 14, on Aug. 11.A grand jury indicted Aravind in Superior Court on Oct. 1.
He was found the next day in his mother’s car in a parking lot off of Andrew Avenue when Officer David Fors was responding to an unrelated call.
New details at the arraignment showed that investigators reportedly found a bloodied laptop and a bent knife at the scene. Also, when officers arrived, the garage door was open, Siddarth at the top of a stairwell, while his mother was at the bottom of the stairs. His mother’s purse and phone were allegedly missing and allegedly found with Arjun in his mother’s car.
“The cause of death is both blunt and sharp force trauma as well as mechanical asphyxiation for both individuals that were deceased,” prosecutor Suzanna Wiseman said in court.
Prosecutors also talked about Aravind’s ChatGPT history, alleging that the teen created a story about killing his family and living out of his car, on the morning of Aug. 11.
Defense attorney Debra DeWitt said she has not yet reviewed any of the evidence.
“The commonwealth is weighing very heavily on them, and we cannot respond to anything until we get to see them. We can’t even direct our investigation until we get to see those,” she said.
Investigators allege that after the murders, Aravind showered, changed clothes, and packed items from the home into his mother’s car. Prosecutors said he stopped at his workplace, bought cereal and protein bars with his mother’s credit card.
Arjun will remain in custody without bail and is expected back in court Oct. 27.
