IIT, IIM graduate dies by suicide, police say due to ‘work pressure’

Saurabh Kumar Ladhha, a 25-year-old consultant at McKinsey & Company’s Mumbai office, jumped off his 9th floor in Matunga, on February 23, 2024. The police remarked that he died by suicide due to work pressure. Laddha was an IIT Madras grad with a degree in chemical engineering. He also earned an MBA from IIM Calcutta. The bright lad held many certifications, including Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Level 1. During his formative years, Laddha also trained as an NCC cadet and was a Harvard Business Review Ascend select member for the past three years. His first major breakthrough in the corporate world was a summer internship at Cipla in 2018, followed by an internship at Piramal Pharma Solutions whilst still an IIT student. He joined McKinsey & Company as a junior analyst in August 2022. A cursory glance at his LinkedIn profile (which is followed by over 15k users), shows what a cheerleader he was; always congratulating folks on their successful new gigs.

The police investigating the incident stated that he had been to Ahmedabad for some work on February 23. He returned home at around 10:30 pm. At around 11:15 pm on the fateful night, Ladhha jumped from the balcony of the 9th floor of the Wadala apartment, where he was staying with his friends. His diseased body was discovered by the watchman, who informed Ladhha’s roommates. He was rushed to the hospital but was declared dead before admission. The hospital registered a case of ‘accidental death.’ According to the cops, Laddha’s last word was with his significant other, with whom he shared the pressure at his workplace.

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/iit-iim-graduate-dies-by-suicide-police-say-due-to-work-pressure-9210684/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1710299807

The first thing that Mckinsey did is to remove their name from media posts 

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/garvmalik_an-iit-iim-mckinsey-employee-jumps-off-activity-7174316443113558016-Ppul

What does this say about our current corporate culture, where death seemed like the ends to the means? 

Why is everyone unleashing their anger on McKinsey? A 25-year-old IIT-IIM graduate and McKinsey employee died by Suicide and everyone has started blaming McKinsey, without realising the depth of such problems.Do you know 100+ IIT students have committed suicide in the last 10-odd years? 

Now, let's start unleashing our anger at the IIT administration.The same are the numbers for Kota.100+ suicides in the last 10 years.Now, let's start unleashing our anger at the coaching institutes. Another such recent suicide case is about my IIT senior, Lalit. He was fighting against corruption while working with Govt. of Rajasthan. Now, let's start unleashing our anger at the government.This anger is very temporary.It's in the news for a week and everyone forgets. 

Do you realise the actual problem? And who's responsible for creating such problems?

It's every single one of us.The whole society.

The way we have defined 'success' with:- Entering top colleges- Getting 1cr+ job offers- Climbing the corporate ladder- Building a unicorn startup- Earning infinite money

Don't you want all that for yourself? Think about it.Who told that such achievements are a 'success'? 

The society.It glorifies such people.

Parents are the culprit when they glorify neighbours' son's board percentages. 

Coachings are a culprit when they glorify IIT admissions.

Newspapers are a culprit when they glorify top packages at IIT.

Big organisations and actors are culprits when they glorify luxury.

I'm a culprit when I brag about my IIT degree.

A kid would think of all this as 'success'.

And make them their life goals.

And when they fail, at any point, even after IIT-IIM-McK, they feel like miserable human beings.

You see? All this?No single person is the culprit.

The environment inside McKinsey is just a reflection of where we are headed as a society.

The true definition of 'success' can never be external achievements.

For me, success is → How Peaceful your Life Is.

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/pallavkulhari_why-is-everyone-unleashing-their-anger-on-activity-7174615501434753024-zNCr?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android

This is really bad. 

Work culture and these Competitive Exams culture is very bad in India which isn't looked upon. 

Originally posted by: Palak2812

 This is really bad. Work culture and these Competitive Exams culture is very bad in India which isn't looked upon. 

India and abroad, basically the survival of the fittest has caused many to perish for superficial and unachievable milestones 

Originally posted by: Palak2812

This is really bad. 

Work culture and these Competitive Exams culture is very bad in India which isn't looked upon. 

lot of rot has to be cleaned in education..a lot.

As parents we r literally struggling to keep the innocence and childhood alive in our child’s life..but have to keep them motivated enough to not let go and keep on working towards a fulfilling life…its like a pressure valve..enough to keep them working but not so much to bog them down

Originally posted by: Kyahikahoon

lot of rot has to be cleaned in education..a lot.

As parents we r literally struggling to keep the innocence and childhood alive in our child’s life..but have to keep them motivated enough to not let go and keep on working towards a fulfilling life…its like a pressure valve..enough to keep them working but not so much to bog them down

You have a tough task at hand indeed, and esp. given the peer pressures and distractions these days are on an all-time high, kudos to your courage on still moving forward in this journey!

Few weeks back we had a faculty jumping off from parking deck. 

Can not understand what is going on

Originally posted by: md410

Few weeks back we had a faculty jumping off from parking deck. 

Can not understand what is going on

It disturbs me how apathetic everyone is about this! 

Originally posted by: dhun.laagi

It disturbs me how apathetic everyone is about this! 

It's disturbing and unacceptable how family and friends pay no attention to the changes in a person.

Originally posted by: NerdyMukta

It's disturbing and unacceptable how family and friends pay no attention to the changes in a person.

We are presuming family/friends did not support him. He lived as a PG.

Most live away from their families and close supporters, which is why it is easier to manifest such thoughts.

Hostel mein se bhi once a week phone call pe kitna hi baat karte hai log.

Also most working professionals pretend like things will become perfect at some point and they are afraid of being mocked about the same, so they do not confide in their family/friends fully about such matters on time.

According to news reports also, only his significant other knew about his work problems, and again, we don't know in what capacity she could or could not influence him.

Toxic cultures are prevalent only because we are still stuck with the carrot/stick mentality.