25-year-old Nikhil Somwanshi (image-LinkedIn/Nikhil Somwanshi)
Bengaluru, Karnataka: Nikhil Somwanshi was found dead in Bengaluru’s Agara Lake on May 8, nearly two weeks after he is believed to have died by suicide. He worked as a machine learning engineer at Ola’s artificial intelligence (AI) startup, Krutrim. Following his death, his colleague took to social media, alleging that the 25-year-old had died by suicide due to “extreme work pressure”.
In a Reddit post, a user who claimed to be Nikhil’s coworker alleged that despite being a fresher, Nikhil, along with two other people, worked on a project, but when the two left, Nikhil was left behind, crammed with their work as well. He further claimed that working at Krutrim, especially under US-based manager Rajkiran Panuganti, was “traumatic”.
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An FIR has been filed to investigate the matter, according to reports.
The Reddit user alleged that Panuganti has “no real clue how to manage people”, as he would “just attend(s) the calls, bash(es) people left, right and center and disappears since he lives in US.”
One former employee told Financial Express that Panuganti would often yell at staff during meetings and vanish for long periods.
“Having not delivered a single product even after a year of joining Krutrim, he is just taking it all out on people,” the Reddit user called Kirigawakazuto claimed.
Based on Nikhil’s LinkedIn profile, he joined Krutrim in August 2024, soon after completing his master’s degree at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru with a 9.30 GPA.
He had previously worked on a large language model and retrieval-augmented generation-based chatbot called Sathi as part of his master’s thesis, funded by the Melinda Gates Foundation, as per his LinkedIn profile.
A Krutrim spokesperson said it was heartbroken by the loss and is cooperating fully with authorities. The company clarified that Nikhil was on leave at the time of his death.
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“He reached out to his manager on April 8, expressing a need for rest. His request was immediately granted. On April 17, he shared that he was feeling better but would benefit from more time off, which was approved,” the company said.
However, according to the Reddit post, the alleged managerial misconduct reportedly continued even after the news of Nikhil’s death.
(This news story may contain content related to suicide and suicidal behaviour. Such topics can be sensitive and may trigger emotional responses. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or behaviours, we urge you to seek help immediately. Contact your local mental health crisis hotline, a mental health professional, or a trusted person in your life.
You may call 14416 or 1-8008914416 for the Tele MANAS service, a comprehensive mental health care service by the Government of India.)
