The brother of 38-year-old Aravind Kannan, an Ola Electric employee who died by suicide on September 28, told TNM that the family is seeking action against senior company executives. Aravind, who worked as Homologation, Certification & Regulation Manager at Ola Electric Technologies had left behind a 28-page note alleging workplace harassment and misconduct by top officials, which was discovered by his family days after his death.
“Only 38 years old — my brother. He has become a sacrifice to this system. They can’t even pay salaries, and yet they are becoming a ‘unicorn’, or whatever they call it in startup language. They don’t even have proper service centres to maintain the vehicles. This kind of thing needs to be exposed. They should be brought behind bars. This shouldn’t happen to anyone else. He’s the second one in the last three months,” said Ashwin Kannan, Aravind’s brother.
In May 2025, another employee at Ola, Nikhil Somwanshi, had died by suicide in Bengaluru. The 25-year-old machine learning engineer at Ola’s AI venture Krutrim was found dead at Bengaluru’s Agara Lake. A viral Reddit post had claimed that Nikhil had died due to extreme pressure and “toxic work culture” at the company.
Aravind had joined Ola Electric in 2022. According to the police, Aravind was rushed to a private hospital after being found unresponsive at his residence, where he was declared dead.
His brother later filed a complaint at the Subramanyapura police station, leading to an FIR against Ola Ceo Bhavish Aggarwal, Subrath Kumar Das, who heads Vehicle Homologations and Regulation at Ola, and others under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for abetment to suicide. According to Ashwin, his brother had named Bhavish abd Subrath in the suicide note.
The complaint also states that Rs 17.46 lakh were allegedly transferred to Aravind’s account on September 30, which the family has claimed was an attempt by the company to “cover up their fault”.
The family has also alleged that Ola’s HR department failed to provide a clear explanation regarding the money transfers.
Ola Electric meanwhile has claimed that Aravind had never raised any complaints of harassment during his tenure and that it has challenged the FIR filed against its top executives, including founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal.
“We are deeply saddened by the unfortunate demise of our colleague, Aravind, and our thoughts remain with his family during this difficult time,” an Ola spokesperson said.
“Aravind never raised any complaints or grievances regarding his employment or any harassment during his tenure. His role also did not involve any direct interaction with the company’s top management, including the promoter.”
The spokesperson added that protective orders have been passed by the Karnataka High Court in favour of Ola Electric and its officials, and that the company had promptly facilitated a full and final settlement to Aravind’s bank account.
“Ola Electric is fully cooperating with the authorities in their ongoing investigation and remains committed to maintaining a safe, respectful, and supportive workplace for all employees,” the statement said.
A senior investigating officer said notices had been issued to all individuals named in the FIR.
“They have submitted written explanations, and further investigation is in progress,” the officer said.
