'He did 3 people's work'—Ola engineer's suicide sparks outrage
What's the story
The alleged suicide of a young employee from Ola's artificial intelligence division, Krutrim, has raised major concerns about the company's workplace culture. Nikhil Somwanshi, a recent graduate from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, joined Krutrim less than a year ago. His tragic death on May 8 came to light when an anonymous Reddit user called the company's work environment "traumatic," especially for newcomers.
Work culture
Allegations of abusive work environment
The Reddit post, purportedly from Somwanshi's colleague, said: "He used to work in Krutrim, and with two other guys leading a project(even after being a freshie). The other two guys left the company, so he was cramped up with work of the other two as well." The post further alleged that the team's manager "just attends the calls, bashes people left, right and center and disappears since he lives in US and most workforce is here in Bangalore."
Support
Former employees corroborate allegations
Former employees of Krutrim have corroborated the allegations made in the Reddit post. One ex-employee, who had worked closely with the team manager, resigned due to intense work pressure and admitted to feeling suicidal. Another former employee described their experience under the same manager as a "nightmare," claiming that team members were routinely subjected to verbal abuse even for basic clarifications or suggesting improvements.
Company response
Ola Krutrim responds to the allegations
Responding to the allegations, an Ola Krutrim spokesperson expressed condolences. "We are deeply saddened by the tragic passing of one of our most talented young employees, Nikhil," the spokesperson said. The spokesperson further clarified that Somwanshi was on personal leave when he died and had initially reached out to his manager on April 8 for rest. He informed the team he was feeling better but would benefit from additional rest on April 17. His leave was extended accordingly.
Project details
Somwanshi's contributions to AI project
Somwanshi developed a large language model (LLM) and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)-based chatbot named Saathi as part of his master's thesis funded by the Melinda Gates Foundation. The project was a joint effort of IISc Bangalore, Oxford Brookes University (UK), Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Akaike Technologies. Saathi sought to simplify access to over 200 government schemes across four Indian states by supporting regional dialects.
Seek help
Please seek help if you're having suicidal thoughts
If you or anyone you know is suffering from suicidal thoughts, you can reach out to AASRA for suicide prevention counseling. The suicide prevention and counselling NGO is available round the clock at 022-27546669. You can also dial Roshni NGO at +914066202000 or COOJ at +91-83222-52525. Sneha India Foundation, which works 24x7, can be contacted at +91-44246-40050 while Vandrevala Foundation's helpline number is +91-99996-66555 (call and WhatsApp).