Pune TCS Engineer Dies By Suicide, Blames Seniors, Including 2 Women

A 48-year-old IT engineer at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in Pune has died by suicide over alleged workplace harassment, the police said.

The engineer, Amit Abhay Brahme, left behind a note in which he alleged harassment in the hands of two senior employees, identified as Archana and Shashwati.

He also alleged that an employee who he considered his friend, identified as Vinod Palicha, filed fake complaints against him to tarnish his reputation on the campus of the IT hub in Pune's Hinjewadi.

A case of abetment to suicide has been filed with the police against the two women and the man.

Brahme died by suicide at his house on June 2. During the investigation, the police found a two-page note from his room. People who were close to him alleged the note exposed the harsh reality of mental harassment faced by employees in the company.

In the note, Brahme alleged that good projects had been taken away from him and the two senior colleagues, Archana and Shashwati, had been mentally harassing him. Successful and high-quality projects were deliberately taken away, only to be given extremely difficult tasks that could not be completed on time, Brahme alleged in the note.

It also mentioned repeated humiliation in front of the entire team and other staff, along with constant pressure to resign.

Brahme faulted his friend Palicha for allegedly filing false complaints against him to tarnish his image among colleagues.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Sudhakar Yadav said the police have filed a case of abetment to suicide against the three employees named in the suicide note. No one has been arrested, he said.

"We are conducting a thorough investigation into every technical and corporate aspect of the matter," Yadav said.

In a statement, the Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) appealed to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to look into the larger concern of whether adequate safeguards exist to identify employee distress, address workplace grievances and prevent such tragedies.

NITES says it is the only registered trade union in Maharashtra formed by IT employees.

"Brahme took the extreme step after allegedly facing prolonged mental harassment and humiliation at the workplace... In January, similarly Sujal Vinod Oswal, a 24-year-old employee of TCS, was found dead on the TCS campus at Hinjewadi, Pune. While the circumstances surrounding that incident remain a matter of investigation, the occurrence of two employee deaths connected with the same corporate establishment within a span of a few months cannot be ignored or treated as a routine occurrence," NITES said.

With inputs from Suraj Kasbe