‘Drone Strike Near My Home': Indian Techie Lied During Op Sindoor To Skip Work, Says Ex-Boss
Soham Parekh, the Indian tech professional embroiled in a massive moonlighting scandal involving over 30 startups, is now facing fresh allegations- this time of lying about being in a conflict zone during Operation Sindoor in order to avoid work.
Arkadiy Telegin, co-founder of the US-based AI startup Leaping AI, claimed on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that Soham Parekh emotionally manipulated him in May by pretending to be under threat during the cross-border escalation. According to Arkadiy Telegin, Soham Parekh falsely claimed that a drone had struck near his home in Mumbai.
'Soham used to guilt-trip me for being slow on PRs when the India-Pakistan thing was going on, all while he was in Mumbai," Arkadiy Telegin posted, sharing screenshots of their chat. In one message, Soham Parekh wrote, 'Drone shot down 10 minutes away", later adding that a nearby building was damaged- a claim now believed to be entirely fabricated.
Arkadiy Telegin accused Soham Parekh of using the situation to stall work and deflect accountability, calling the incident 'manipulative and dishonest." He added sarcastically, 'The next person should hire him for the Chief Intelligence Officer role."
The latest revelation follows an industry-wide uproar over Soham Parekh's admission that he was simultaneously employed by 34 different startups, many of them backed by leading accelerator Y Combinator. Suhail Doshi, former CEO of Mixpanel, was among the first to flag the issue, revealing that he terminated Soham Parekh within a week of hiring him.
Other startup founders soon followed with similar experiences. One halted Soham Parekh's trial period after seeing Suhail Doshi's post while another said they discovered his overlapping employment only after conducting their own background check.
Soham Parekh Admits To Deception
Soham Parekh admitted to working multiple jobs without disclosure, saying, 'It is true. I'm not proud of what I've done. But I had to do this out of necessity. I was in extremely dire financial circumstances." He claimed to have handled all assigned work himself without outsourcing or relying on AI tools and said he worked up to 140 hours a week.
Soham Parekh Now Hired By AI Startup Darwin
Despite the controversy, Soham Parekh landed a new job with Darwin, a San Francisco-based AI startup. Darwin's CEO, Sanjit Juneja, expressed support for the hire, saying, 'Soham is an incredibly talented engineer, and we believe in his abilities to help bring our products to market."
Soham Parekh confirmed that he has ended all other engagements and signed an exclusive agreement with Darwin. In a post, he wrote, 'I've been isolated, written off and shut out by nearly everyone I've known and every company I've worked at. But building is the only thing I've ever truly known, and it's what I'll keep doing."
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