Suicide by Cafe Coffee Day founder Siddhartha suspected: Police

Siddhartha is the eldest son-in-law of BJP's senior leader and state's former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna.

Cafe Coffee Day founder V.G. Siddhartha is suspected to have jumped into the Nethravathi river near Mangaluru from the bridge, though his body has not been traced so far despite massive search operation, Mangaluru Police Commissioner Sandeep Patil told reporters on Tuesday.

Earlier, Siddhartha's driver Basavaraj Patil filed a complaint in a Mangaluru police station that his boss was missing from the bridge over the river where he got down from his car and wanted to take a walk.

"Siddhartha got down from the car on the bridge across the river and asked him (Patil) to wait at the other end of it as he wanted to walk for a while but did not turn up even an hour later," said Patil in his complaint.

Police suspect Siddhartha would have jumped into the flowing river from the bridge as the driver found him missing in the area since then.

Siddhartha, 60, is the eldest son-in-law of BJP's senior leader and state's former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna.

Siddhartha had sold his entire 20 per cent equity stake in the city-based software major Mindtree Ltd to the Mumbai-based Larsen & Toubro (L&T) for Rs 3,300 crore at Rs 980 per share of Rs 10 face value on March 18.

Latest updates:

Coast Guard, NDRF roped in for search operation

A massive search operation involving eight teams of police forces along with the Coast Guard and NDRF have been pressed into the search operation to locate V G Siddhartha.

Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada Sasikanth Senthil on Tuesday told ANI: "We are conducting search and rescue operation. Eight teams are conducting search along with Coast Guard and NDRF. We have also asked for support from the Navy, Karwar," Senthil told ANI here. The 58-year-old businessman, son-in-law of former Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna has been missing since last evening from Mangaluru.

Karnataka lawmaker Shobha Karandlaje requests Centre's assistance

BJP lawmaker from Karnataka Shobha Karandlaje on Monday met Home Minister Amit Shah and wrote letter to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh requesting them for central assistance in tracing VG Siddhartha, a resident of her constituency.

"The renowned businessman VG Siddhartha is found to be missing since yesterday from Dakshina Kannada District of Karnataka. The state government has already started search operations in the Netravati bridge area. The heavy rain and the current weather condition in Karnataka are causing a problem for the speedy search operations", a portion of the letter reads.

She also wrote to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh seeking assistance in tracing Siddhartha. She has requested the Central Government for the deployment of coastal guards, central forces and helicopters to aid in the search of the missing businessman.

Coffee Day Enterprises writes to BSE, NSE confirming Chairman Siddhartha's absence

Coffee Day Enterprises, on Tuesday wrote to the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) confirming the absence of its Chairman and Managing Director V G Siddhartha.

"This is to inform you that V G Siddhartha, Chairman and Managing Director of Coffee Day Enterprises Limited has not been reachable since yesterday evening. We are taking the help of concerned authorities. Company is professionally managed and led by a competent leadership team, which will ensure continuity of business," informed the letter to both the stock exchanges. Earlier, Coffee Day Enterprises shed 20 per cent to trade at Rs 154.05 per share after its founder was reported missing.

I gave it my all, sorry to let down people: CCD owner's letter to board

A letter written by founder-owner of the popular coffee chain, Cafe Coffee Day, V G Siddhartha surfaced on Tuesday in which he has apologised to people who "put their trust" in him and said he failed to create the right profitable business model despite his best efforts.

"After 37 years, with strong commitment to hard work, having directly created 30,000 jobs in our companies and their subsidiaries, as well as another 20,000 jobs in technology companies where I have been a large shareholder since its founding. I have failed to create the right profitable business model despite my best efforts. I would like to say I gave it my all. I am very sorry to let down all the people that put their trust in me," Siddhartha's letter to the stakeholders read. The letter is addressed to the 'Board of Directors and Coffee Day family'.

In his letter, he also said he was under "tremendous pressure" from one of "the private equity partners".

In his letter, Siddhartha said: "I fought for a long time but today I gave up as I could not take any more pressure from one of the private equity partners forcing me to buy back shares, a transaction I had partially completed six months ago by borrowing a large sum of money from a friend. Tremendous pressure from other lenders led to me succumbing to the situation," he wrote.

Siddhartha also alleges that he was the recipient of "harassment" from the previous Directorate General, Income Tax which led to him facing a "liquidity crunch".

"This is my sincere submission, I hope someday you will understand, forgive and pardon me. I have enclosed a list of our assets and tentative value of each asset. As seen below our assets outweigh our liabilities and can help repay everybody," Siddhartha wrote.

Siddhartha was last seen on Netravati Bridge before going missing

VG Siddhartha has gone missing from Mangaluru and was spotted last on Monday evening at the Netravati Bridge where he had gone for a stroll, a senior Karnataka police officer said on Tuesday.

The 58-year-old businessman, son-in-law of former Karnataka chief minister and former external affairs minister S M Krishna has been untraceable since last evening. According to Sandeep Patil, commissioner of police, Mangalore, Siddhartha had left Bengaluru yesterday and was travelling to Sakleshpur.

"On reaching Netravati Bridge, he got down from the car and asked his driver to move ahead and wait as he wanted to take a stroll," Patil said adding that the police was informed after he went missing.

Yediyurappa, Shivakumar visit SM Krishna

Local MLA and Congress leader U T Abdul Khader, too, joined in the search operation on Tuesday morning.

"We are very concerned that our friend, a very good person and someone who has given jobs to thousands of people is missing since yesterday night," Khader told ANI.

Siddhartha is also the son-in-law of the former Karnataka chief minister and Maharashtra Governor S M Krishna.

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and Congress leaders D K Shivakumar and B L Shankar arrived at the Bengaluru residence of SM Krishna early this morning.

Congress leader B L Shankar also paid a visit to Krishna's house. Large numbers of well-wishers were also spotted at Krishna's house since after the reports of his son-in-law going missing became public.

S M Krishna after resigning from the Congress in 2017 had joined the BJP the same year. He was the External Affairs Minister of India between 2009 and 2012 in a government led by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

News by - https://www.khaleejtimes.com/international/india/bjp-leader-sm-krishnas-son-in-law-siddhartha-goes-missing