‘She said that she couldn’t take the work stress’: Friend of Pune techie who ‘died by suicide’

Hinjewadi police station’s Senior Police Inspector Kanhaiya Thorat said, “She was found dead on the morning of May 31. We have found a suicide note, and further investigation is on.” However, the suicide note did not mention any specific reason for her decision.

The family of the software engineer has alleged that work pressure and toxic work culture drove her to take the extreme step. The deceased was a native of Shrigonda in Ahilyanagar (formerly Ahmednagar) district, and was working as an engineer at an IT company on Senapati Bapat Road.

Kothimbire’s cousin, Shashi Raykar, speaking to The Indian Express, said that Abhilasha had been struggling with work pressure and workplace-related stress for the past few months, which allegedly led to her suicide.

“Immediately after graduation, she joined as a full-stack engineer in Hinjewadi but was kept on the bench for around two years, so she couldn’t get hands-on experience,” Raykar explained. This forced her to change the job in October last year.

In the new role as a front-end developer, it was difficult to adapt. “She was suffering from constant work pressure to learn new softwares. The workload was so huge that it led her to work for long hours. Overtime had become a daily thing, and Abhilasha would keep weekends for learning the new technology,” added Raykar.

“As a result, in the last few months, Abhilasha lost weight, and her enthusiasm reduced. This affected her drive and energy, gradually leading to depression. She would say that the work environment was toxic and the staff wasn’t cooperative, and she was fed up with them. This forced her to purposely opt for work-from-home mode throughout May,” said Raykar.

Adding to her troubles were fears about job security. “Some of her company’s projects had been transferred to another IT firm, and she had said there was talk about layoffs. Abhilasha feared she was on that list and if removed might have created financial pressure as she had gifted a car to her father three months ago and was paying the EMIs,” he added.

Despite her struggles, Kothimbire’s last conversation with her parents on the evening of May 30 did not indicate her intentions. “She seemed happy, and the conversation didn’t mention any workload or company issues. The family was also discussing and planning to get her married,” Raykar added.

Her friend Suresh (name changed), the last person she called on May 30, said, “She used to regularly complain about her workload. The evening before, she was frustrated and mentioned that she couldn’t sustain the work stress now and called me to take her out. While roaming around her home in Hinjewadi I advised her to take a break, told her that work pressure would be over gradually and left her back to her flat at around 9 pm,” he said.

“She travelled to the high-rise Crown Greens Society from her flat in a four-storey building, and jumped off from the 21st floor through the open space near the staircase,” Raykar said.

In response to the allegations, the Human Resource (HR) head, where Abhilasha was working, told The Indian Express, “We are a mid-sized company where targets are not forced upon. Also, with a good employee retention rate we do not have any complaints about work pressure in the last 18 years of the company’s existence. While Abhilasha was a well-performing employee, we never had any complaints or arguments with her in the last eight months of her joining.”

“Emphasising work-life balance we had given her leaves whenever she needed. From about mid-April she chose the work-from-home option citing medical reasons of B12 deficiency and others and we allowed it without imposing conditions or extra work. Though some of the projects have been transferred to different IT firms, it’s routine in the IT sector and there were no discussions about layoffs. Any allegations made about toxic work culture and work-related stress are baseless,” he added.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Thorat, said, “The investigation is progressing. If the family of the deceased allege and complain to us that any kind of work pressure led to the suicide, we will inquire with company officials and take appropriate action.”