The Bengaluru city police recently booked a case against Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal and others after a 38-year-old employee died allegedly by suicide, leaving behind a ‘death note’ where he claimed the management was harassing him.
The deceased was identified as K Aravind, a resident of Chikkalasandra in Bengaluru, who had been working as a homologation engineer at Ola Electric since 2022. Aravind died on September 28, and the case was registered on October 6.
Besides Aggarwal, the police named Subrat Kumar Dash, head of vehicle homologations and regulations, and others in the FIR filed under Section 108 (abetment of suicide) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Ashwin Kannan, elder brother of Aravind, filed a complaint with the police, sharing the details that his brother had left in the purported 28-page death note. According to the FIR, on September 30, two days after the death of Aravind, Rs 17,46,313 was credited to his bank account through National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT).
“I felt suspicious as such huge money was credited to his bank account. Upon enquiring with Subrat Kumar Dash, he asked to contact the HR. Upon checking with them, Krithesh Desai, Paramesh and Roshan, all representatives of Ola Electric, came home and explained about the money transactions, which were abrupt and did not have any login. It looked like the company was trying to hide some information,” Ashwin said in the FIR.
In the purported death note written by Aravind, he alleged that Dash and Aggarwal were harassing him at work and also did not pay salaries and other incentives, which pushed him into depression.
“I want the police to take action against them and provide justice to me,” the FIR quoted him as saying in the note.
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Aggarwal and Dash have not issued any statement in the matter so far.
DCP (south west) Anitha B Haddannavar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest), told the Indian Express that the case was initially registered as unnatural death. After the purported death note came to light, the brother filed the complaint, said Haddannavar,
“We are looking into the issue, and the probe is underway,” she added.