A 38-year-old software engineer allegedly electrocuted himself to death at his home in Chennai. His family members said he was on medication for depression due to work pressure.
The man, Karthikeyan, was found wrapped in live wire by his wife. He worked as a techie at a software firm in Chennai for the past 15 years and recently took up a new job.
"We are investigating the cause. He had recently shifted to a new company. In his suicide note, he left a message for every member of the family," a police officer told NDTV.
Techie's Wife Had Gone For A Devotional Trip
The techie, who was a father of two children aged 10 and eight, was alone at home as his wife Jayarani had left for a devotional trip with her friends on Monday. Karthikeyan took the extreme step after dropping his kids with their maternal grandparents, reports said. When the woman used her key to enter the house on Thursday, she found her husband unconscious on the floor, fully wrapped with cables. She called neighbours for help.
The incident comes amid a debate over toxic work culture after the death of Anna Sebastian Perayil. Anna was a 26-year-old chartered accountant at Ernst & Young, who passed away from cardiac arrest on July 20. Her mother alleged that she died due to the immense stressful work environment. Anna joined EY in March, after clearing the C.A. exam last year.
Anna's mother alleged that a work culture that "seems to glorify overwork" affected her health. The Union Labour Ministry has launched a probe into the death.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor had a "deeply emotional" conversation with Anna's father and said he will raise the issue of legislating, through Parliament, a fixed calendar for all workplaces, whether in the private sector or the public, that would not exceed eight hours a day, five days a week.
"Inhumanity at the workplace must be legislated out of existence with stringent punishment and fines for offenders. Human rights do not stop at the workplace," the Congress MP wrote on X.