Know all particulars about Ola Krutrim’s response to the demise of their younger worker Nikhil Somwanshi with Reddit posts blaming his USA based mostly boss Rajkiran Panuganti
Practically two weeks after the physique of a 25-year-old machine studying engineer was found in Bengaluru’s Agara Lake, troubling allegations have emerged throughout Reddit and in media reviews. Unnamed people claiming to be former or present staff prompt that the engineer might have taken his personal life attributable to a poisonous work setting and the actions of an allegedly exploitative supervisor.
Who’s Senior Director Rajkiran Panuganti, alleged boss of Nikhil Somwanshi as Ola Krutrim, Bengaluru techie commits suicide
looks like that is the supervisor https://t.co/VpUgwNMdIz
— Rayan Das (@raydeeam) May 18, 2025
How Ola reacted to the demise of Nikhil Somwanshi?
Ola Krutrim clarified that the person in query had been on private go away on the time of the incident. The corporate acknowledged that, whereas the precise causes behind the tragedy remained private and complicated, it was dedicated to cooperating absolutely with the household and authorities throughout this troublesome time. Referring to the social media discussions that linked the suicide to office stress, the corporate urged the general public to chorus from drawing untimely conclusions within the absence of verified information.
Notably, Krutrim reiterated its stance on fostering a wholesome and supportive work setting, including that worker well-being stays considered one of its prime priorities. The incident has sparked conversations about office psychological well being and the duties of tech firms in supporting their staff.
Age 25 Nikhil was a machine studying engineer with Krutrim, the bogus intelligence (AI) unit of Bhavish Aggrawal-led Ola.
He interned at Kotak Mahindra Financial institution in Bengaluru for 3 months in 2023, after which had an internship on the IISc as a Pure Language Processing Engineer for six months (from January to June 2024) and the IISc internship displayed Nikhil Somwanshi’s work expertise (a part of his Grasp’s thesis) on massive language mannequin (LLM) and retrieval-augmented era (RAG)-based chatbot Saathi.
Why is that this linkedin web page 404 pic.twitter.com/AMGBh8NP0I
— Kapil Patel (@CypherKapil) May 18, 2025
The deceased, recognized as Nikhil Somwanshi, was reported lacking and later discovered within the lake on Might 8, prompting native authorities to file a First Info Report (FIR) and provoke an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his demise. Somwanshi had joined Krutrim, an AI subsidiary of ride-hailing large Ola, in August 2024 as a machine studying engineer. His appointment got here shortly after he accomplished his grasp’s diploma from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, the place he graduated with a stellar GPA of 9.30.
In response to Reddit posts, the worker regardless of being contemporary out of school, was main a undertaking with two different crew members and the viral Reddit put up mentions Rajkiran Panuganti as his boss who stored him loaded with work for 7-8 months till he took that break.
“He (Panuganti) simply attends the calls, bashes individuals left, proper and centre and disappears since he lives within the US and many of the workforce is right here in Bangalore,” the Reddit put up claims. “Having not delivered a single product even after a 12 months of becoming a member of Krutrim, he’s simply taking all of it out on individuals.”
Suicide attributable to work stress on the OLA, the worst place to work
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Rajkiran Panuganti, PhD, whose LinkedIn account has now been deleted, possesses intensive expertise in synthetic intelligence and software program engineering, presently serving as Senior Director of Foundational LLM Fashions at Krutrim. Beforehand, Rajkiran held advisory roles at Codemod, Wyzr, and Nelumbium Capital.
At Microsoft, Rajkiran contributed as Principal Utilized Scientist Supervisor for Microsoft 365 Chat and served as a Senior Software program Engineer and he earned a Bachelor’s diploma in Electronics and Communications Engineering from the Indian Institute of Know-how, Bombay, and a Physician of Philosophy in Pc Science from The Ohio State College.
In response to reviews and social media discussions, Somwanshi was allegedly overwhelmed by extreme workload following the departure of a number of colleagues, who have been believed to have give up attributable to their experiences with Rajkiran Panuganti, a supervisor based mostly in america. These claims recommend that Nikhil might have been requested to shoulder the duties of a number of crew members, putting him underneath immense stress.
#JustIn | Karnataka police has registered a case following the alleged suicide of Ola Group Firm Krutrim AI worker, Nikhil Somwanshi
Nikhil’s physique was present in Agara Lake in Bengaluru & the police registered an FIR based mostly on a criticism from the uncle of the deceased
Police… pic.twitter.com/lWbxiS1iuu
— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 19, 2025
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