A 47-year-old senior scientist with the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) in Bengaluru died by suicide last week, with his family alleging that sustained work-related pressure contributed to his mental deterioration. The incident has renewed attention on workplace stress within India’s defence research establishment, even as the agency maintains it was unaware of any difficulties faced by the employee.
Sharad Katiyar, a scientist in ADA’s programming department, jumped from a stairwell window between the fourth and fifth floors of his residential complex in Seegehalli, Bengaluru, between 7:30 pm and 8:00 pm on October 21 . He sustained critical injuries and was rushed to a private hospital in K.S. Halli, where he was declared dead on arrival . According to police accounts, Katiyar’s father became concerned when his son took the lift to the fifth floor and followed him, but was unable to prevent the fall .
In their statement to police, Katiyar’s family claimed he had been experiencing severe work-related stress for more than a month, which affected his mental health . He had been consulting specialists at a private hospital and was diagnosed with a depressive episode, yet the alleged workplace pressure continued unabated .
On the morning of the incident, Katiyar visited the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) for a psychiatric consultation and was prescribed medication . He returned home with his family later that day before the fatal incident occurred that evening .
Based on the family’s complaint, KR Puram police registered an Unnatural Death Report (UDR) under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 . Investigators inspected the scene on October 22, completed the inquest at the hospital mortuary, and recorded statements from Katiyar’s wife and parents, Suresh Chandra Katiyar and Sudha Katiyar .
Krishna Rajendra, Director of Administration and Human Resources at ADA, said the organisation had not been informed of any such difficulties. “We were not aware of any such issue. I spoke to a few of his colleagues, and they also said they were not aware,” he said . He noted that the agency had organised several programmes on mental stress management over the past year .
Rajendra pushed back against attributing the death solely to work pressure, suggesting health-related factors might also have played a role. He stated that employees generally arrived around 8:30 am and left by 6:00 pm, and that Katiyar had been attending office regularly . He also said he had checked whether Katiyar had sought reimbursement for medical consultations but found no such claim in the records he reviewed .
Katiyar was associated with the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk2 programme office at ADA, an agency under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) . The LCA Mk2 is a key project in India’s indigenous fighter aircraft development efforts, representing a more powerful and capable variant of the Tejas aircraft already in service . Scientists working on such programmes operate under stringent deadlines and high expectations, though whether these conditions contributed to Katiyar’s death remains unestablished.
The police investigation into the circumstances surrounding Katiyar’s death, including the family’s allegations of workplace stress, is continuing. The family’s claims have yet to be independently verified, and authorities have not established whether workplace conditions contributed to the incident . The case has nonetheless highlighted questions about mental health support and workload management within India’s defence research institutions, where employees often work on confidential, high-stakes projects with limited external visibility into their working conditions.
