Nikhil Somwanshi, a 24-year-old machine learning engineer at Ola’s artificial intelligence division Krutrim, allegedly died by suicide after sending a chilling message to his roommate asking him to tell others that he had died in an accident, India Today reported.
A native of Jalgaon in Maharashtra, Somwanshi had left his shared accommodation in Bengaluru’s HSR Layout on the evening of May 7. When his roommate couldn’t reach him by phone, he used a linked device to trace his live location. He arrived at Agara Lake — the last known location — where he found a pair of slippers near the water. He immediately alerted the police by dialling 112.
Due to poor visibility at night, emergency responders were unable to launch search operations that evening. His body was recovered from the lake the next morning, on May 8.
According to the India Today report, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Bengaluru South East) Sarah Fatima confirmed the sequence of events. “The case was reported on May 7. A case of unnatural death has been registered, and our investigation is underway. We are awaiting the postmortem report."
Though the incident took place two weeks ago, it drew widespread attention only recently after a Reddit post went viral, linking Somwanshi’s death to an allegedly toxic work culture at Krutrim. The anonymous post described “extreme work pressure,” verbal abuse, and mismanagement at the AI firm.
The Reddit user claimed that Somwanshi, who joined Krutrim in August 2024 as a fresher, had been assigned a leadership role following the resignation of two colleagues. The post accused a US-based manager, identified as Rajkiran, of routinely abusing junior staff. “Rajkiran had no idea how to manage people. He used to bash folks and then disappear,” the post read.
It further alleged that even after the engineer’s death, there was no introspection at the company, and employees were warned not to discuss the incident. The user described the internal work environment as “pathetic.”
Somwanshi was an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), where he reportedly earned a GPA of 9.30. During his postgraduate studies, he is known to have worked on a chatbot project using large language models (LLMs) and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), which was funded by the Melinda Gates Foundation.
Krutrim, which is central to Ola’s AI ambitions, made headlines in early 2024 when it secured $50 million in funding from Matrix Partners India, achieving a $1 billion valuation and becoming India’s first AI unicorn.
Ola Krutrim confirmed Somwanshi’s death and issued a statement expressing its “thoughts and heartfelt sympathies” to his family. The company said he was on personal leave at the time of the incident and had informed them he was unwell. However, the statement did not address the work culture-related allegations raised online.
HELPLINE: If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation: 04424640050, Tele Manas: 14416 (available 24x7) or call Tata Institute of Social Sciences: 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.