25-year-old AI engineer found dead in Bengaluru, allegations of toxic work culture emerge

The body of 25-year-old Nikhil Somwanshi, a machine learning engineer at Ola’s artificial intelligence startup Krutrim, was discovered in Bengaluru’s Agara Lake nearly two weeks after his death. After his death, social media is abuzz with serious allegations that the engineer died by suicide due to a toxic workplace environment.

The body was found on May 8, and an FIR was filed to investigate the matter.

Somwanshi joined Krutrim in August 2024, shortly after completing his master’s degree at Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru with a 9.30 GPA.

As per Somwanshi’s LinkedIn profile, 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.

According to reports by Reddit, Somwanshi was under severe stress due to an exploitative manager and an unhealthy work culture. A user, posting under the handle Kirgawakutzo, alleged that the US-based manager Rajkiran Panuganti used “traumatic” language with subordinates, fostering a hostile and psychologically unsafe environment that led to multiple resignations.

Suicide due to work pressure at the OLA, the worst place to work

byu/Kirigawakazuto inindianstartups

Media reports have also highlighted distressing claims from current and former Krutrim employees, who described Panuganti as verbally abusive and lacking people management skills. One former employee told Financial Express that Panuganti would often yell at staff during meetings and vanish for long periods.

The Business Standard quoted another former Krutrim employee who resigned without having another job offer due to what they described as “intense work pressure”, saying they had even experienced suicidal thoughts as a result.

A Krutrim spokesperson said it was heartbroken by the loss and is cooperating fully with authorities. The company clarified that Somwanshi was on leave at the time of his death.

“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 Somwanshi’s death.

India