Ola Krutrim Techie Suicide Case : Nikhil Somwanshi Messaged Roommate Day Before Body Found In Lake

New Delhi : Nikhil Somwanshi, a machine learning engineer at Ola’s artificial intelligence division Krutrim, who allegedly died by suicide had messaged his friend to tell everyone that he had died in an accident. Somwanshi completed his master’s degree at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), where he earned a GPA of 9.30.

During his postgraduate studies, he reportedly worked on a chatbot project using large language models (LLM) and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), funded by the Melinda Gates Foundation. According to the police, Somwanshi, a native of Jalgaon in Maharashtra, left his shared accommodation on the evening of May 7 and sent a message to his roommate, asking him to inform his family that he had died in an accident.

The friend then immediately alerted the police by dialling 112. Due to poor visibility after dark, emergency responders were unable to begin search operations that night. His body was recovered from the lake the following morning. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) for the Bengaluru South East, Sarah Fatima, confirmed this. “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.”

The viral Reddit post alleged “extreme work pressure” and verbal abuse at Krutrim. The post claimed that Somwanshi had been placed in a leadership role despite being a fresher and was burdened with extra responsibilities after two colleagues resigned.

The post also named Somwanshi’s US-based manager, alleging that he frequently verbally abused employees, particularly junior staff. “Rajkiran had no idea how to manage people. He used to bash folks and then disappear,” the post said, further claiming that no behavioural changes followed the engineer’s death, and that employees were warned not to talk about it.

Somwanshi was an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) who joined Krutrim in August 2024. Since it became news, Ola faced massive backlash for “toxic work culture” and extreme pressure. Reacting to the allegations, Ola Krutim said he was on personal leave at the time of the incident and had said he was unwell.

Krutrim, a key part of Ola’s AI ambitions, rose to prominence in early 2024 after raising USD 50 million in a funding round led by Matrix Partners India, attaining a USD 1 billion valuation and becoming the country’s first AI unicorn.