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HC directs police not to harass Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal in suicide abetment case
Aggarwal moved the court on October 14, seeking that the case against them be quashed and that the police be restrained from taking any coercive action
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The Karnataka high court has directed the Bengaluru police not to harass Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal and others in connection with an abetment to suicide case involving the death of a 38-year-old employee. The case was registered this month.
In an order passed last week, Justice Mohammad Nawaz, hearing a petition filed by Aggarwal, the company Ola Electric, and Subrat Kumar Dash, the head of the vehicle homologation department at the company, said that the police must not harass the petitioners under the “guise of an investigation.”
“The police who are investigating into the case... registered at Subramanyapura Police Station, Bengaluru City, shall not harass the petitioners in the guise of investigation,” the court said.
Aggarwal and the others moved the court on October 14, seeking that the case against them be quashed and that the police be restrained from taking any coercive action against them in the meantime. The court issued notices to the police and the brother of the employee. The police registered the case on October 6 following the brother’s complaint.
As per the First Information Report, the employee allegedly died by suicide on September 28 this year, leaving behind a note accusing the management of harassment. As per the complaint, the employee accused the petitioners of workplace harassment and of withholding salary and incentives. The 38-year-old had been employed at Ola Electric as a homologation engineer since 2022.
The complainant said that two days after his brother’s death, ₹17.46 lakh was abruptly transferred by Ola to his bank account through NEFT, which raised suspicion. He said that company representatives gave inconsistent explanations about the transfer.
In his note, the 38-year-old reportedly named Aggarwal and Dash. He allegedly claimed that constant harassment at work had driven him into depression. The police then booked Aggarwal, Dash, and Ola Electric under Sections 108 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on the charges of abetment of suicide and common intention.
