Bhavish Aggarwal rejects harassment allegations in Ola suicide case; Next hearing on Nov 17

Ola Electric founder Bhavish Aggarwal has rebutted allegations regarding an employee’s death by suicide. During a Karnataka High Court hearing, Aggarwal stated that the suicide note, which accused the company’s leadership of workplace harassment, was false.

The deceased employee, K Aravind, who had been working as a Homologation Engineer at Ola’s Koramangala office since 2022, died by suicide. In a 28-page handwritten note, Aravind allegedly accused Aggarwal and senior executives of harassment.

Aravind’s brother, Ashwin Kannan, alleged that he was subjected to “sustained workplace harassment” and was denied salary and benefits by Subrat Kumar Das, Head of Homologation Engineering, along with Aggarwal and other officials. Kannan also claimed that ₹17.46 lakh was credited to Aravind’s account two days after his death.

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Following the incident, Kannan lodged a complaint on October 6 at the Subramanyapura police station. A case was registered under Section 108 (abetment to suicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against Aggarwal, Das, and others.

Senior advocate MS Shyamsundar, appearing for the petitioners, argued that suicide notes are not “gospel truth” and suggested that Ashwin may be the “narrator of the death note.” He further submitted that the police had initially registered an Unnatural Death Report (UDR) and that all dues had been remitted to the family.

Kannan’s counsel countered, saying, “This shows the company is worse than the East India Company. How can the petitioners accuse the brother? Let the police investigate who wrote it.”

The court directed that the initial UDR be closed and ordered police to investigate based on Kannan’s complaint.

The bench scheduled the next hearing for November 17, and instructed that police must not harass the petitioners under the pretext of investigation.