Ola Electric Responds to Employee Suicide Case Involving Top Executives Police initially treated the matter as an unnatural death but subsequently registered it under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to abetment of suicide.

By Entrepreneur Staff

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Bhavish Aggarwal

Ola Electric Mobility Limited has issued a statement addressing recent media reports and police proceedings linking its chief executive Bhavish Aggarwal and senior official Subrat Kumar Dash to the death of an employee in Bengaluru last month.

According to Entrackr media reports, the Bengaluru police registered a case on October 6 against Aggarwal, Dash, and Ola Electric following a complaint filed by the employee's brother.

The incident involves K Aravind, a 38-year-old engineer in Ola Electric's homologation department, who reportedly died by suicide on September 28. He was admitted to Maharaja Agrasena Hospital after allegedly consuming poison and later passed away.

Police initially treated the matter as an unnatural death but subsequently registered it under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to abetment of suicide.

The complaint cited a 28-page handwritten note recovered from Aravind's residence, in which he reportedly mentioned stress and non-payment of dues. The family also questioned a transfer of INR 17.46 lakh to Aravind's account two days after his passing, describing it as unusual.

In a regulatory filing on October 21, Ola Electric expressed condolences to the family and said that Aravind had not raised any grievances about his employment or working conditions during his tenure. The company noted that his final settlement had been promptly processed to support the family and emphasised that his role did not involve direct engagement with the top management.

Ola Electric also highlighted that the FIR has been legally challenged before the Karnataka High Court, which has granted protective relief to the officials.

On October 17, a Bench of Justice Mohammed Nawaz ordered that the police should not harass Aggarwal or Dash on the pretext of the investigation. The interim order stated, "The police who are investigating into the case registered in Cr.No.372/2025 of Subramanyapura Police Station, Bengaluru City, shall not harass the petitioners in the guise of investigation."

The Court has also sought responses from the State and from Ashwin Kannan, the deceased employee's brother, who filed the complaint.

The company added that it continues to cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation and that no chargesheet has been filed so far. It further mentioned that the case does not currently qualify as a material event under SEBI's Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements Regulations, 2015, and that it will provide updates to exchanges as required by law.

This incident follows a similar case in May involving Nikhil Somwanshi, a machine learning engineer at Krutrim, the AI unit of Ola. The company had stated that Somwanshi was on personal leave at the time of his death.

Entrepreneur Staff

Entrepreneur Staff

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