Chennai techie dies by suicide after suffering from depression over work pressure

Police said Karthikeyan electrocuted himself and his wife found him tangled in a live wire Thursday.

Karthikeyan hailed from Theni district in Tamil Nadu and lived in Chennai with his wife and two children. The kids are aged 10 and eight years.

Karthikeyan had worked as a techie at a software firm for the past 15 years. According to police, he had earlier complained of being upset due to work pressure .

The was undergoing treatment for depression for two months, a report by the The Times of India reported.

Karthikeyan was alone at home at the time of the incident. His wife K Jayarani left for Thirunallur temple, about 300 km from Chennai, on Monday.

She dropped off the children at her mother's place and returned on Thursday night.

On knocking on the door, she got no response and used a spare key to enter the house.

On entering the house, she found Karthikeyan lying with a live wire wrapped around his body.

A case of unnatural death has been registered and a probe is on.

The techie's death by suicide, allegedly triggered by depression over work pressure, comes amid nationwide outrage over toxic work conditions in the aftermath of the death of a 26-year-old chartered accountant with Ernst & Young.

After the death of her daughter, Anna Sebastian Perayil's mother Anita Augustine wrote an email to the company head Rajiv Memani slamming the firm for "glorifying overwork".

Perayil's mother claimed that while several employees of Ernst & Young quit over "excessive workload", her daughter was told by her boss to "stick around and change everyone’s opinion about the team".

"Her assistant manager once called her at night with a task that needed to be completed by the next morning, leaving her with barely any time to rest or recover. When she voiced her concerns, she was met with the dismissive response: ‘You can work at night; that’s what we all do," Augustine wrote in the email.

In response, the company has shown deep sadness for the death of Perayil, who was a Chartered Accountant from Kerala.

Taking note of the email, the Union Labour Ministry has launched a probe into the death of Anna Sebastian Perayil.