Young Techie’s Death Sparks Concerns Over Workplace Pressure in Tech Industry
Death of 24-year-old IISc graduate Nikhil Somwanshi raises concerns over mental health and alleged pressure at AI startup
Nikhil Somwanshi, a 24-year-old machine learning engineer at Krutrim, Ola’s artificial intelligence arm, was found dead in Agara Lake on May 8. A recent graduate from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, Somwanshi had joined the company in August 2024 after completing his Master’s in Business Analytics.
Police recovered his body a day later after tracing a live location tag from his laptop. No suicide note was found, and the case is being investigated as an “unnatural death.” He had reportedly informed his roommate of his location before the incident.
Following his death, a Reddit post—allegedly written by a colleague—sparked controversy by accusing Krutrim of fostering a toxic workplace culture. The anonymous post claimed that Nikhil had been under immense pressure from his manager, particularly after two team members resigned, leaving him with a crushing workload. Former employees echoed similar concerns, describing the work environment as “mentally exhausting.”
Krutrim issued a formal statement expressing deep sorrow over Nikhil’s passing and said he was on personal leave at the time of the incident. The company offered condolences and pledged support to his family and colleagues.
Nikhil’s academic achievements were widely admired. At IISc, he had worked on “Saathi,” an AI-based chatbot designed to enhance financial inclusion using retrieval-augmented generation and large language models. The initiative was backed by Oxford Brookes University, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Akaike Technologies, and the Melinda Gates Foundation.
His untimely death has reignited urgent discussions around mental health and work pressure in India’s fast-paced tech industry. Experts and peers are calling on companies to build more humane, supportive environments that prioritize employee well-being over output.
The article is authored by Kripa C. Saji and intern from Loyala Academy