Bengaluru, 29 Oct

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday directed the Bengaluru Police to continue investigating the alleged suicide of a 38-year-old employee at Ola Electric. The company’s CEP Bhavish Aggarwal had approached the court, seeking to quash an FIR lodged against them for abetment to suicide. 

Aggarwal told the court that the deceased’s suicide note was “not true”.

The family had filed an FIR against Aggarwal based on a 28-page death note where the deceased accused senior Ola officials of harassment and misconduct. He also reportedly described a hostile work environment and pressure from his superiors.

However, senior advocate MS Shyamsundar told a bench of Justice Mohammad Nawaz that courts had repeatedly held that suicide notes were “not gospel truths” and claimed that the complainant might have influenced their contents. 

“I have a strong doubt that it is the brother of the deceased, who is the narrator of this death note,” he said. Shyamsundar also alleged that the complainant’s interviews and photos in the media were hurting Ola Electric’s share prices. “My shares are dropping because of this.” 

However, the bench comprising of Justice Nawaz said that the probe must go on.