Employee suicide case: Advocate calls Ola Electric ‘worse than East India Company’ during hearing

Bengaluru, Oct 29 The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday heard a plea by Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal seeking to quash an abetment to employee suicide case filed against him.

During the hearing, advocate Prasanna Kumar, who appeared for the complainant, described Ola Electric as “worse than the East India Company,” alleging severe mistreatment of employees, as per NDTV Profit report.

The case is linked to the death of a 38-year-old engineer, K. Aravind, who worked with Ola Electric as a homologation engineer since 2022.

Aravind allegedly took his own life on September 28 at his apartment in Chikkalasandra, Bengaluru. He was rushed to Maharaja Agrasen Hospital but died despite treatment.

In his 28-page handwritten note, Aravind reportedly accused his superiors at Ola Electric of continuous workplace harassment and withholding his salary and other financial dues.

His brother, Ashwin Kannan, later filed a police complaint against Bhavish Aggarwal, Subrat Kumar Dash (head of homologation engineering), and other company officials, holding them responsible for his brother’s death.

Senior advocate M. S. Shyamsundar, representing Aggarwal, argued that the case should be dismissed.

He said the matter was initially registered as an Unnatural Death Report (UDR), so a new FIR should not have been filed.

He also said Ola Electric had already cleared all of Aravind’s pending dues and that the company was facing damage due to the ongoing controversy, including employee exits and falling share prices.

However, the complainant’s lawyer, Prasanna Kumar, maintained that the company’s actions had deeply affected Aravind, leading to his death.

He also raised concerns about a transfer of Rs 17.46 lakh to Aravind’s bank account two days after his death, calling it suspicious.

Ola Electric has denied all allegations. The company stated that Aravind never raised any formal complaints or grievances about harassment during his employment and that his role did not involve direct contact with the top management.

The firm earlier this month said that, “We are deeply saddened by the unfortunate demise of our colleague, Aravind, and our thoughts remain with his family during this difficult time. Aravind had been associated with Ola Electric for over three and a half years and was based at our headquarters in Bangalore.”

The company added that Aravind never raised any complaints or grievances regarding his employment or any harassment during his tenure.

“His role also did not involve any direct interaction with the company’s top management, including the promoter,” the spokesperson said on October 20.

After hearing both sides, the High Court directed the police to continue their investigation fairly but instructed them not to harass the petitioners. The court has scheduled the next hearing for November 17.

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