AI engineer kills self over ‘wrong transfer’

The police found the suicide note near the body which said Rithik is taking his own life and no one should be held responsible.

Bhattacharya was posted to Goa a month ago. He had returned to city a couple of days back to take his family to Goa,police said. Bhattacharya’s parents,who stay in Kolkata,have been informed. They are on their way to Mumbai.

Bhattacharya had participated in the flash strike by the airlines staff a month ago,said some residents of the colony. Friends of the engineer claim Bhattacharya had applied for a transfer to Kolkata on compassionate grounds so that he could stay with his parents. “His parents are old and he wanted to be with them and take care of them,” said a friend.

However,he was sent to Goa last month on a year-long deputation. An airline union member alleged it was a retaliatory move by the management in response to the flash strike by a significant chunk of airline employees in May. The airline did not comment on his transfer order.

“He was also under a lot of stress because the performance linked pay and other incentives for last month had been delayed. This component of the pay is close to 70 per cent of the entire salary,” said the union member.

The strike on May 25 and May 26,to protest an order forbidding employees from speaking to the media forced the airline to cancel over 100 flights in two days,scuttling travel plans of thousands of passengers.