International consulting firm Deloitte has sacked an employee who called German dictator Adolf Hitler a “charismatic visionary” in a LinkedIn post last week, the Hindustan Times reported.

The man, Neerabh Mehrotra, was an associate director in Deloitte’s Risk Advisory Department.

In his post on LinkedIn, Mehrotra said that he had read a book by Laurence Rees titled, The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler. He said that a Google search about the ruler would suggest that he was “autocratic” and “very egocentric”.

However, Mehrotra subsequently listed out several of Hitler’s “charismatic qualities” and remarked that we should “all learn” from him. He said that the German ruler was a “charismatic visionary, magnetic speaker, extremely confident, very intellectual and massive action taker”.

Several Twitter users criticised him for his post and questioned why Deloitte had employed such a person.

Amid the backlash, Mehrotra in an open letter apologised for his post and said he did not intend to hurt anyone’s feelings, Moneycontrol reported. “My mentors/bosses/coaches have always taught me that if I make a mistake then I should have the audacity to accept it as well, so here I come forward to sincerely apologise for my post and I will not write anything about such personalities in the future,” he said.

Mehrotra later deleted his LinkedIn account.

A spokesperson for Deloitte said in a press note: “The views on social media expressed by the individual, who joined our organisation last month, are not aligned with our shared values and violate our internal policies. This individual no longer works for Deloitte India.”