In the wake of increasing deaths attributed to work pressure, a 42-year-old area manager from a private finance company in Jhansi has reportedly died by suicide, with his family accusing senior colleagues of “mental torture” related to unmet recovery targets. The deceased, Tarun Saxena, was discovered hanging at his home on Sunday, and a suicide note recovered by police contains serious allegations of exploitation by his superiors at Bajaj Finance.
“Tarun Saxena committed suicide by hanging himself with a dupatta. A suicide note was found in which he accused his senior colleagues of exerting pressure through unattainable recovery targets,” stated Superintendent of Police (City) Gyanendra Kumar Singh.
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The note indicates that Saxena faced constant pressure from his seniors to meet higher recovery goals. “Action will be taken once the family files a formal complaint. The body has been sent for a postmortem,” the SP added. Saxena’s family reiterated these concerns, citing ongoing mental harassment as a significant factor in his death. Gaurav Saxena, his brother, told reporters, “Tarun was mentally tortured by his regional manager, Prabhakar Mishra, and national manager, Vaibhav Saxena. They even verbally abused him during a virtual meeting. He was frustrated throughout the night and ultimately made this tragic decision on Sunday.”
Gaurav further claimed that Tarun was pressured to achieve 100 percent loan recovery, with threats of personal financial responsibility for any shortfall. “He was assigned difficult rural areas like Moth and Talbehat for collections, which only increased his stress,” he added.
A growing trend of work-related deaths
In another incident, Anna Sebastian Perayil, a young employee at Ernst & Young (EY) India, reportedly lost her life due to intense work-related stress. Anna, who had passed her Chartered Accountancy (CA) exams in 2023, had been with EY’s Audit team at SR Batliboi in Pune for only four months.
In a poignant letter, her mother attributed her daughter’s untimely death to the “glorification of overwork.” She shared how Anna often worked late nights and weekends, returning to her accommodation utterly exhausted. Despite having a bright future ahead, the extreme demands of her job took a significant toll on her health and well-being. Her mother expressed disappointment at the absence of any EY representatives at her funeral, highlighting concerns about the corporate culture of overwork that seems to be impacting employees across various industries.
