Bengaluru, October 22, 2025 – In a heartbreaking incident that has rocked India’s booming electric vehicle industry, 38-year-old K. Aravind, a homologation engineer at Ola Electric, took his own life last month with claims of relentless harassment from the top. His story, generating from a raw, 28-page suicide note discovered by his family, paints a harsh reality of corporate pressure gone horribly wrong – one that’s now naming the company’s founder, Bhavish Aggarwal, into the spotlight.Aravind, who’d been with Ola since 2022, breathed his last on September 28, 2025 after downing poison in his modest Chikkalasandra apartment.
Friends, noting something off during a frantic call, hauled him to Maharaja Agrasen Hospital, but it was too late. He slipped away that very evening, leaving behind parents who still can’t understand the whole the new development .What makes this loss sting even deeper? That crumpled notebook, its pages filled with Aravind’s shaky handwriting, accusations that hit like punches to the gut. He pointed the finger straight at Subrat Kumar Das, head of homologation engineering, and none other than Ola’s brash CEO, Bhavish Aggarwal. “Sustained mental torture,” Aravind wrote, detailing unpaid salaries, delayed incentives, and a grind that crushed his spirit. “They broke me,” the note seemed to scream, according to his elder brother, Ashwin Kannan, who found it tucked under a pillow.
Ashwin, a 41-year-old businessman marched to the Subramanyapura police station. “My brother wasn’t weak – he was worn down,” he told reporters this week, his voice cracking just a bit. He’d shared snippets of the office nightmares with Ashwin over late-night chats, especially after another Ola staffer, 25-year-old Nikhil Somwanshi from the AI arm Krutrim, ended it all back in May. “Toxic vibes, impossible deadlines, bosses breathing down your neck – that’s what he described. But we never thought it’d end like this.”The cops didn’t waste time.
On October 6, they slapped charges of abetment to suicide and common intention under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against Das, Bhavish Aggarwal, and a handful of unnamed execs. It’s the kind of case that could ripple through boardrooms, forcing a hard look at how far “hustle culture” should really go.Ola, for its part, fired back with a polished statement laced with sorrow and deflection.
“We’re gutted by Aravind’s passing,” a spokesperson said. “He was family here for three-plus years, never once flagged any issues.” They’ve coughed up his full dues – all Rs 17.46 lakh – wired two days after he died, which only fueled the family’s suspicions. “Why the rush? What were they hiding?” Ashwin was angrry, grilling HR reps who mumbled about “abrupt transactions”
Ola’s already legally ready, challenging the FIR in Karnataka High Court. Protective orders are in place for the bosses, buying time while the probe digs into emails, pay stubs, and those shadowy bank logs. “We’re all in with the investigation and dead set on a healthy workspace,” the company insisted.
But whispers from ex-employees, bubbling up on social media and in hushed café corners, paint a different scene – one of burnout in the race to electrify India’s roads.Aravind wasn’t just any cog in the machine. A Dayananda Sagar engineering grad, he lived simply with his folks, dreaming of stability in a city that chews up ambitions.
That morning, he even ordered lunch for his parents – an early one, Ashwin recalls with a hollow laugh. “Like he knew.Like he was saying goodbye.”As Bengaluru’s tech culture buzzes with the news, questions hang heavy. Will this be the wake-up call for giants like Ola, or just another footnote in the startup grind? Ashwin vows to push on. “I’ll fight tooth and nail,” he said, eyes fierce. “For Aravind. For anyone else teetering on the edge.”The investigation rolls forward, but one truth cuts clear: Behind the glossy EV ads and valuation hype, real lives are dying day by day bit by bit . And no court ruling can give back those dreams, those lives.
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