Social media abuzz about toxic work culture at Ola Krutrim after employee’s ‘suicide’

The information of the demise of Nikhil Somwanshi, who had labored at Krutrim since August final yr, first emerged in a Reddit submit on Thursday by which it was alleged that he took his personal life.

The Reddit submit, which alleged that Somwanshi was underneath immense work pressure earlier than he took the acute step, went viral, sparking a social media outrage over alleged poisonous work tradition at Ola Krutrim.

Ola in an announcement to ET mentioned Somwanshi was on private depart on the time of the incident.

In line with the corporate, Somwanshi had reached out to his supervisor on April 8, expressing that he wanted relaxation, and was promptly granted private break day.

Later, on April 17, he shared that he was feeling higher however would profit from further relaxation, and his depart was prolonged accordingly, Ola mentioned.

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“We’re extending our full help to Nikhil’s household and our workers throughout this time of grief. We’re additionally involved with the related authorities and can proceed to supply our help as wanted,” Ola mentioned.Ola didn’t reply particular queries from ET on the work setting on the firm.

A former Ola Krutrim worker ET spoke alleged, “They’re doing completely mediocre work with incompetent administration and management. Toxicity is thru the roof, as is nepotism.”

ET couldn’t attain Somwanshi’s household for remark.

Somwanshi was a administration postgraduate in enterprise analytics from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), as per his LinkedIn profile. Earlier than becoming a member of Krutrim, he was a pure language processing engineer at IISc as part of a six-month internship throughout the first half of 2024.

IISc didn’t reply to ET’s request for a remark till press time Sunday.

Krutrim has seen near a dozen junior to senior management-level exits prior to now yr even because it doubled down on AI initiatives, ET had reported in April. The exits included utilized AI director Ashish Kumar, who was agentic AI for the enterprise software, Vipul Shah, who was vice president-products, Gautam Bhargava, who was vp and head of AI engineering, and Ravi Jain, who was enterprise head.

Please observe: Tele MANAS gives free, 24/7 psychological well being help to people via a nationwide toll-free helpline (14416 / 1800-89-14416). When you’ve got suicidal ideas, please search assist.