Techie hangs self, blames her colleagues

Woman Employed With Nokia Writes Three Suicide Notes, Cites Harassment At Office

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: “Being truthful and honest has cost me my life. I am giving it for a cause. Save working women from humiliation,’’ was written in bold letters in one of her suicide notes.

Soni (25), a software engineer working with Nokia in Marathahalli, wrote three suicide notes on Thursday night, before hanging herself in her house at Jayanagar 9th Block. She said harassment by managers Teja and Suchin forced her decision.

Though Soni committed suicide on Thursday night, the incident came to light on Saturday morning. Her father Jagadish, an official with BSNL in Mysore, tried reaching her all through Friday, but there was no response. Growing suspicious, he called her landlord. When they broke open the door, Soni’s body was found hanging from the ceiling fan.

“Soni was complaining of harassment by her managers for the past few days. We even met and spoke to them. They assured us everything will be fine,’’ Jagadish said.

Soni addressed one of the suicide notes to her parents and brother Sunil, another to her friend Venkat, and the third one to the media and police. In the last mentioned, she pleaded for stringent action against the ‘people/manager who torture’.

In the note to her family members, Soni said both Teja and Suchin pressurized her to quit the job. “I always performed well, they didn’t find any reason. So the b gave me less work. When asked, they gave bull reasons that I didn’t entertain guys/team... I can’t quit until I get a visa, but I am in a bad phase of life. I am going to die,’’ she wrote.

She asked her parents to give all her money to Venkat so that he could do his MS. In her note to Venkat, Soni advised him to either get married or go back to Chennai. She also requested him to expose the problems her managers created.

Tilaknagar inspector Srinidhi said the police have started the investigations. “We will take action as per law,’’ he added.

In an official statement, a Nokia spokesperson said: “The Nokia family condoles the loss of Soni Jagadish, an employee of Nokia R&D in Bangalore, and expresses its deepest sympathy and support to the bereaved family. This is a tragic and unfortunate incident and we are in touch with the family members and are extending all possible support to them. The police are investigating the case and we will provide all possible help to the officials to ensure that the investigation is carried out smoothly.”

Soni’s suicide notes were written on paper with the word ‘Symbian’ printed in a corner. Symbian is a developer of operating systems whose software is used by Nokia. A spokesperson of Symbian said the company does a lot of training work for Nokia staff. “During these sessions, we circulate notepads with our company name endorsed on it,’’ he said. TNN

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