A tech scandal exploded this week after an Indian engineer was accused of juggling nearly 5 jobs, while faking proximity to a military conflict to emotionally manipulate his boss, despite being over 1,000 km away in Mumbai.
Soham Parekh, now working at San Francisco-based startup Darwin, admitted to moonlighting across multiple companies, but ex-boss Arkadiy Telegin revealed that Parekh also falsely claimed to be in danger during May’s India-Pakistan standoff.
“They shot a drone in the air near my house 10 mins away,” Parekh told Telegin—despite being in Mumbai, far from the strike zone in Jammu & Kashmir.
“Soham used to guilt-trip me for being slow on PRs,” Telegin wrote on X. “All while he was in Mumbai.” He posted screenshots of the chats and quipped: “The next person should hire him for the Chief Intelligence Officer role.” Telegin said, adding he had offered Parekh $150k–$200k plus equity.
The chats unfolded as tensions surged following India’s Operation Sindoor in response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians.
Parekh later apologized for “the trouble” caused, which Telegin shared online with the caption: “Soham character arc that I hoped to see.”
The broader revelation came from Mixpanel founder Suhail Doshi, who accused Parekh of working for 34 startups simultaneously, faking credentials and preying on early-stage companies. “No more excuses,” Doshi posted.
Parekh acknowledged the allegations, blaming financial stress. “No one likes to work 140 hours a week,” he said. “But I had to do this out of necessity.”
Despite widespread criticism, Darwin CEO Sanjit Juneja has stood by him: “Soham is an incredibly talented engineer.”
On June 3, Parekh wrote on X: “I’ve been isolated, written off… But building is the only thing I’ve ever truly known.”
