I’m writing this anonymously because I’m overwhelmed, and unsure what my next steps should be. I’m a 20 year old, third-year computer science student in India. In Jan 2024, I started working as a paid remote intern for a US-based startup.

I worked with them for 15 months — from January 2024 to March 2025. The original contract was from Jan 2024 to Jan 2025. After the contract expired, I continued working without any new agreement, and the company continued assigning me tasks, communicating with me, and expected me to continue work — so I did, in good faith.

I was paid a monthly stipend of ₹1,00,000. In Jan and Feb 2025, they even gave me a ₹20,000 bonus because I had worked really hard day and night on the product as a developer. I was actively contributing to development, attending daily calls, and pushing commits to their GitHub repo.

I formally resigned on March 31, 2025. After that, I continued to be in contact with the company for over 1.5 months(while my stated notice period was of 30 days), helping hand things off, knowledge transfer and requesting my pending March salary, which they still haven’t paid.

Then things turned hostile.

• The founder threatened to sue me for the full ₹15 lakh paid or partially agreed upon amount.
• He claims I didn’t deliver any “production-ready” work, even though the contract didn’t mention release or deployment goals — it was time-based, not deliverable-based.
• He sent me a document demanding a refund.
• He called me threatening to file a police report — I was so mentally exhausted that I blocked him on WhatsApp.

After that, he started escalating publicly via email:

• He tagged my college in emails and wrote to the dean sharing all the information publicly and asking college to take action against me.
• He emailed the Commissioner and DC of my hometown, where I no longer live but my parents do which created a lot of mental tension.
• He’s CCing every email to random public officials — it feels like digital harassment or a smear campaign.

A few more facts:

• I have all GitHub commits, meeting logs, chat history, etc. to prove I worked.
• Other team members, including the CTO, resigned shortly after me which states lack in leadership.
• I never signed any contract for 2025, but I kept working because they asked me to.
• The founder has past record of not releasing salary of many ex-employees

My parents are asking me to stay quiet and avoid legal entanglement at a young age. I agree to an extent — I don’t want to fight unless I have to. But this is affecting my and my family's mental health.

What I need help with:

• Do I need to respond to this? Legally, what am I obligated to do? (haven't received any legal notice yet)
• Can he file a case or police complaint in India if the company is not Indian-registered?
• Should I file a cyber harassment complaint to protect myself?
• If I stay silent, is that safe? Or can it be used against me later?
• Is it better to have a lawyer send a cease-and-desist + salary demand? I’m mentally exhausted, but I also feel I need to protect myself.

Please advise me on what’s smart, safe, and balanced. I’ve never been in a situation like this, and it’s draining me emotionally. Thank you. 🙏