Ola engineer’s suicide note prompts a wake-up call: What every professional should know about psychological harassment at work

Workplace harassment isn’t just a matter of bad bosses — it’s a public health issue. The World Health Organization estimates that 15% of working-age adults were living with a mental disorder in 2019. Depression and anxiety alone cost the global economy roughly 12 billion lost workdays each year, a staggering $1 trillion in lost productivity. Behind those numbers are human stories, some ending in tragedy. One such story unfolded in Bengaluru, putting a name to the numbers. On September 28, an engineer of Ola Electric named K. Aravind died by suicide. In a 28-page note addressed to his brother, Aravind detailed months of psychological torment accusing top executives, including CEO Bhavish Aggarwal and Subrat Kumar Das, head of vehicle homologations and regulations, of mental harassment, s