Senior manager of Noida bank arrested for abetting suicide of woman executive
Manager of multinational bank arrested for abetting suicide of woman executive in Ghaziabad. Colleagues named in FIR. Victim faced harassment, ended life.
The Ghaziabad police on Thursday arrested a 34-year-old manager of a multinational bank in Noida, for allegedly abetting the suicide of a 26-year-old woman executive who ended her life at her home in Ghaziabad on July 12 after leaving behind a five-page note, implicating her colleagues, said senior police officers.
The police also registered an FIR under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita section 108 (for abetting suicide) at Nandgram police station and the FIR named several of her colleagues, including a woman executive.
Police said the arrested man is a team leader and was the immediate boss of the deceased woman.
“The suspect was the immediate boss of the deceased woman and he was named in the FIR filed by the woman’s brother. The woman colleague named in the FIR is a resident of Delhi and she is presently on the run. She had a fight with the deceased on July 9 in the cafeteria. It was after this that the deceased woman submitted her resignation, but her manager (the arrested man) did not accept it. He was influenced by the woman suspect into sending the victim a contract termination mail on July 11. This pushed the victim into a severe bout of depression and she finally ended her life a day later,” said Ravi Kumar Singh, assistant commissioner of police (city 2).
Investigators said they have questioned at least 15 employees working at the Noida branch of the bank in connection with the case.
“The absconding woman employee is the prime suspect in the case and our teams are trying to trace her. She bullied the deceased over her rural background and things ended in a tragic manner,” Singh said.
The deceased, after completing her MBA, had joined the bank last year. Her brother, who got registered an FIR, had told HT that the family hail from a rural background and his sister wore salwar suits and saris most of the time.
“She received a financial incentive after her training and her photo was displayed on the office noticeboard. The woman colleague (the suspect) made disparaging comments about her appearance after seeing the photo and that hurt her. They would also casually hit her on her shoulder or rudely brush past her while going by her seat,” he had said.
He said his sister was not into partying or socialising and this did not go down well with her colleagues.
“She mentioned in the suicide note that she was unable to sleep due to the repeated harassment and had started visiting a doctor. The details of the note are under investigation,” the ACP said.
Apart from the woman suspect, the note also mentions name of another woman colleague and the deceased stated that both had number of fights with her.
It further mentions that her senior officers were in know of the alleged harassment but they just held meetings upon her complaints and took no action.
The bank did not offer a comment on the arrest of its employee. It had issued a statement on Wednesday that the deceased woman was not a direct employee of the bank but of a business service provider.
“From a preliminary review of the incident, we understand that there was significant disagreements between the deceased and the employee (of the service provider) at our Noida office. She was under investigation by the service provider and was issued a show cause notice on July 10 and disciplinary action was taken by the service provider. We are cooperating with the authorities in the investigation...,” the statement said.