Karnataka HC asks Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal, others to cooperate in engineer’s suicide probe
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka High Court has directed Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO & MD of Ola Electric Technologies Private Limited, and Subrat Kumar Das—Head of Homologation Engineering —to actively cooperate in an ongoing criminal investigation into the suicide of engineer K Aravind, an employee of the company.
Justice Mohammad Nawaz on Wednesday also extended the interim protection granted to them, directing police not to harass the petitioners in the guise of investigation, till November 17. The court was hearing the petition filed by the petitioners challenging the FIR registered against them.
The case stems from an FIR filed by Aravind’s brother Ashwin Kannan with the Subramanyapura police, alleging abetment to suicide under Section 108 of the BNS Act.
The deceased had allegedly left behind a death note alleging workplace harassment and denial of his salary dues and other perks by the petitioners.
During the hearing, the petitioners contested the authenticity of the note, arguing it might have been drafted by the complainant rather than the deceased. They also claimed the circulation of images and interviews relating to Aravind’s death had damaged the firm’s reputation, impacted its share price and triggered employee departures.
In contrast, counsel for the complainant characterized Ola Electric as being akin to the “East India Company”, accusing the firm’s officials of attempting to shift blame.
The court was told that while the police have issued notices for investigation, the petitioners have replied only with letters rather than appearing for interrogation. The court asked the petitioners to cooperate with the investigation.
The court further stated any final report filed against the petitioners can be challenged in due course.
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PM Modi is controlled by Donald Trump, wants to do the same in TN: Rahul Gandhi
Ranipet (Tamil Nadu) (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was being "controlled" by US President Donald Trump and that the PM wanted the AIADMK to capture power so that he could control Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.
Also, he claimed that the prime minister "handed out our energy security and gave away our data, besides selling our farmers and small and medium industries."
"You saw yesterday (in Parliament) the face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi completely lacking confidence," Rahul said on the delimitation bill.
"He (PM) could not even face the opposition. He was sitting sideways. And the reason is, he is controlled by the United States. He signed the India-US deal that sold our country out," Rahul said while addressing an election rally here.
He further said, "Today, if Donald Trump tells Modi to jump, Modi jumps. If Donald Trump tells Modi to lie down, Modi lies down. Why? Because Donald Trump controls Modi fully. How does he control him? He controls through the Epstein files. He controls him because he knows Modi's financial systems and understands Modi's link with Adani," the Congress leader alleged.
Just as he was being controlled by Trump, Modi wanted to do the same to the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. "That is why he wants to put AIADMK in power in TN," Rahul said.
The Union government had rejected references to PM Modi in the latest Jeffrey Epstein case files, describing it as “little more than trashy ruminations by a convicted criminal that deserves to be dismissed with the utmost contempt”.
