HDFC Employee, 45, Dies In Office, Cops Probe "Suspicious Circumstances"

An HDFC bank employee in Lucknow died under mysterious circumstances while working, police said. The 45-year-old fell off her chair and died instantly, according to reports.

"Additional Deputy VP of HDFC Bank in Vibhutikhand, Sadaf Fatima (45), dies under suspicious circumstances while working. The panchnama (record of observation) of her body has been filled, and it has been sent for postmortem. The cause of death will be clear after the postmortem," Vibhutikhand Assistant Commissioner of Police Radharaman Singh told news agency ANI.

According to a report in Dainik Bhaskar, her colleagues claimed that Sadaf was under work pressure. The incident comes amid a nationwide debate over workplace pressure after an Ernst and Young worker allegedly died of "overwork".

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav termed the incident "extremely worrying" and a reflection of the country's current economic stress. He emphasized that this tragedy highlights the need for companies and government departments to reassess their priorities and working conditions.

“All companies and government departments will have to think seriously in this regard. This is an irreparable loss of the country's human resources. Such sudden deaths bring the working conditions under question." he said in the post on X (formerly Twitter).  

"The real measure of the progress of any country is not the increase in the figures of services or products but how mentally free, healthy and happy a person is," he added.

Anna Sebastian, who worked at EY's Pune office for around four months, died in July. Earlier this month, her mother Anita Augustine wrote to EY India Chairman Rajiv Memani and flagged the "glorification" of overwork at the consulting firm.

Her father claimed that the 26-year-old raised concerns over work pressure with her seniors.