Britannica COO may have been contemplating suicide

Mr. Whig had jumped into the ventilation shaft from the 19th floor on Sunday. His body was found by sweepers around 9 a.m.

“It is an irreplaceable loss for the family. He was sensitive, humble and down-to-earth, always willing to extend a helping hand. His death has left an eternal void,” said a family member of the 47-year-old Britannica Chief Operating Officer (COO) Vineet Whig, who jumped off Belvedere Park building in DLF Phase-III here on Sunday.

Mr. Whig, who lived with his family in Block D, had jumped into the ventilation shaft from the 19th floor in Block C. His body was found by sweepers who came around 9 a.m. They informed the guard, who in turn alerted the family.

A guard here told the police that he had seen Mr. Whig enter Block C on Saturday too, as a result of which the police suspect that he may have been contemplating suicide since a while.

Further, no closed-circuit television camera footage was available near the shaft from where he jumped. However, his slipper found on the 19th floor indicated that he jumped from there.

Mr. Whig had supposedly left for a walk on Sunday morning, but he jumped from the neighbouring block, the police said. “Since the deceased has not accused anyone in his suicide note, no case has been registered against anyone. Immediate investigation under the CrPc was initiated on the day of the suicide. Also, nothing concrete was found in the closed-circuit television camera footage recovered from the building in which he lived,” said Sudeep Kumar, SHO, DLF Phase-II police station.

‘Professional, yet empathetic’

Saddened by the sudden death, many of Mr. Whig’s colleagues described him as “extremely professional yet empathetic”, “compassionate leader” and “extremely methodical”. “As Vice- President at iDiscoveri, Mr. Whig was an extremely professional yet empathetic and compassionate leader. I was especially impressed with his ability to help each team member. Even under stressful situations, he was poised and calm,” said an Instructional Designer who worked with Mr. Whig at iDiscoveri.

Starting 1992, Mr. Whig worked as a General Manager in NIIT for over 14 years before taking over as Associate-Vice President at Wipro in 2006. After a little more than one year, he moved to iDiscoveri Education as the Vice-President, before moving to Pearson VUE as Head of Operations (Asia Pacific) in 2008. Mr. Whig again moved to NIIT for three years in 2011 before finally moving to Encyclopedia Britannica in August 2014 — first as an advisor and then COO — in April 2015.