Don’t harass Ola founder in the guise of probe into employee’s death: Karnataka HC directs Bengaluru city police

The High Court of Karnataka has directed the Bengaluru police “not to harass” Bhavish Aggarwal, chairman and managing director of Ola Electric Technologies, and Subrat Kumar Das, the company’s Head of Homologation Engineering, “in the guise of investigation” into the case of alleged abetment to suicide of one of the engineers of the company recently.

Justice Mohammad Nawaz passed the interim order on October 17 based on a petition filed by Mr. Aggarwal and Mr. Das, who have been arraigned as accused persons in the First Information Report (FIR) registered based on the complaint lodged by Ashwin Kannan, who is the brother of deceased, K. Aarvind (38).

Aravind allegedly attempted suicide at his apartment in Chikkalasandra on September 28 and was rushed to a private hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries despite medical efforts.

In a 28-page handwritten note, recovered from Aravind’s room, he purportedly blamed his superiors for mental harassment and non-payment of salary and allowances, leading him to consume poison. The complainant, citing the note, alleged that the top officials of the company had subjected Aravind to “sustained workplace harassment and withheld his salary and dues, causing him severe distress”.

Pointing out that ₹17.46 lakh was transferred to Aravind’s bank account through NEFT on September 30, two days after his death, it has been claimed that the transfer of amount is “suspicious.”

However, the company, in a statement, had said that Aravind never raised any complaint or grievance regarding his employment or any harassment, and his role also did not involve any direct interaction with the company’s top management.