Ola engineer death: Karnataka HC directs police not to harass CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, others ‘in guise’ of probe

The court was hearing a petition filed by Aggarwal, Ola employee Subrat Kumar Dash, and Ola Electric Technologies. The petition requested that the case of abetment to suicide and related proceedings be quashed, alongside an application for a stay on the investigation and a direction that no coercive action be taken against the petitioners.

Aggarwal, Dash and others were booked under Section 108 (abetment of suicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) on October 6, days after Bengaluru resident K Aravind, who had been employed at Ola since 2022, purportedly died by suicide on September 28. Aravind’s elder brother, Ashwin Kannan, filed a police complaint sharing details that Aravind allegedly mentioned in a purported 28-page note, following which a First Information Report (FIR) was registered.

In the FIR, Ashwin stated that an unexplained transfer of Rs 17.4 lakh had been made to Aravind’s account two days after his death. “….all representatives of Ola Electric–came home and explained about the money transactions which were abrupt and did not have any logic. It looked like the company was trying to hide some information,” he added in the FIR.

Ashwin also stated in the complaint that his brother had left a note alleging harassment on the part of Dash and Aggarwal, as well as non-payment of salaries and incentives.

The case is set to be listed for hearing after notice in the matter is issued to Ashwin.