The household of Suchir Balaji say he was killed and didn't kill himself. Now they've taken legal action against San Francisco and utahsyardsale.com its police department.

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The parents of departed OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji have taken legal action against the city of San Francisco and the San Francisco Police Department, declaring that the real cause of his death was not suicide, however murder.

The claim, filed in January, alleges that the SFPD covered up the criminal activity, ruling it a suicide without carrying out an extensive investigation.

Balaji, who had worked as a scientist at OpenAI, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment last November. Attorneys state Balaji's parents, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy, requested even more examination into his death however were informed the case was currently closed.

"The claim demands that the city, cops department, and medical examiner release public documents withheld under the general public Records Act," Joseph Goethals, lawyer for the petitioners, told Decrypt. He said that if the files weren't provided within 10 days, and "no legitimate exceptions apply, a claim can force their release. We will seek a court order to obtain them."

The claim claims that SFPD violated the California Public Records Act by unlawfully withholding public records of the case. Attorneys for Ramarao and Ramamurthy also argued that the investigation into their son's death was rushed and insufficient, with officials disregarding essential forensic findings and failing to resolve their demands for additional inquiry.

The claim requires the immediate disclosure of all reports, pictures, funsilo.date and videos, in addition to coverage of .

Said Geothals: "If the San Francisco Superior Court does not translate and impose the law correctly, we will look for option with the Court of Appeal. We hope it doesn't pertain to that."

Balaji worked for OpenAI from November 2020 to August 2024. In an interview with The New york city Times in October, he said that before the public launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, he had actually assisted OpenAI gather and utilize "huge amounts" of information drawn from the web without authorization.

According to the claim, in December, Balaji's household hired forensic pathologist Dr. Joseph Cohen to carry out a private autopsy. In his report, Dr. Cohen determined that there was a single gunshot injury in the mid-forehead, a little to the right of the bridge of his nose.

Dr. Cohen said that the bullet trajectory was unusual for a suicide, as it traveled downward at a small left-to-right angle, totally missing the brain before lodging in the brainstem, according to the match. Dr. Cohen determined a contusion on the back of Balaji's head, which he said raised even more questions about the circumstances of his death.

The San Francisco Police Department did not right away react to a request for comment by Decrypt.

The claim called out the circumstances of Bilaji's death. His body was found a week after The New York Times discussed the whistleblower in a court filing related to its claim against OpenAI.

Despite Balaji's discoveries, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman pushed back on the New York Times' claims. Speaking at the newspaper's annual DealBook Summit, Altman dismissed the claims.