The Owner & the Founder of Café Coffee Day, India’s largest coffee chain, VG Siddhartha has been missing since Monday evening from the Netravati River in Mangaluru, Karnataka. The Mangaluru Police has initiated a massive search operation concerning the missing reports of VG Siddhartha.
VG Siddhartha is the son-in-law of the senior BJP Politician & former Karnataka Chief Minister S.M. Krishna. Besides CCD, VG Siddhartha is also the founder of a grand hospitality chain, wherein 7-star resorts named Serai & Cicada are being run.
Insight into VG Siddhartha Missing Case
According to the reports, CCD Owner VG Siddhartha left Bengaluru for Sakleshpur on Monday evening. However, he asked his driver, Basavaraj Patil, to take the route to Mangaluru. While they were crossing the Ullal Bridge that has been constructed over the Nethravathi River, he asked his driver to stop the car. VG Siddhartha got down from the car & told him to wait at the end of the bridge.
Before leaving, he informed his driver that he wants to take a walk along the bridge & need to make few calls.
The driver tried contacting VG Siddhartha over the call, when he did not return even after an hour. The driver got panicked after learning that Siddhartha’s mobile phone was switched off. He went looking for him to the bridge, however could not find him anywhere.
He immediately informed Siddhartha’s family members & went to Kankanady Police Station to lodge a complaint.
The Massive Search Operation to Locate CCD Owner
The Mangalore Police instantly launched a massive search operation to find him. Over 200 Policemen & divers on around 25 boats & rafts were sent out to search Siddhartha in the river. Sniffer dogs were also pressed into this search operation.
As per the sources, the sniffer-dog squad stopped their search in the middle of the bridge Ullal. The Mangaluru Police is now investigating call details of Siddhartha as to check who interacted with him right before he went missing.
Apart from these, the Indian Coast Guard- Rajdoot, ACV (H-198), three different diving teams & District Disaster Relief Team have also been deployed to join the search operation.
Sandeep Patil, Commissioner of Mangaluru Police said that in the light of the ongoing circumstances of Siddhartha’s sudden appearance, it is suspected to have jumped into the Nethravathi River from the Ullal Bridge. However, police has not been able to trace Siddhartha’s body so far despite the whacking search operation.
VG Siddhartha’s Letter to CCD Board Surfaced
A letter written by CCD Owner VG Siddhartha & dated 27th July 2019 has surfaced to the lime-light recently. The letter has been addressed to the Board of Directors & employees of the CCD Enterprises found by Siddhartha.
The content of the letter conveys Siddhartha’s best, yet unfruitful efforts to create the right profitable business model. He said that he has failed as an entrepreneur. He apologized for letting the people down who had put their trust in him.
Siddhartha further explained certain financial issues & tremendous pressure that he was going through. The letter was concluded with an enclosed list of assets & their individual tentative value.
Earlier this year, in the month of March, Siddhartha sold his entire 20% equity stake in Mindtree to L&T (Larsen & Toubro) for around 3,300 Crore.
In addition to that, a report from the Economic Times states that Siddhartha was also seeking after revaluing around 8,000 to 10,000 Crore Rupees from Coca Cola Co. to sell one of his stakes in the coffee chain. One of the CCD Employees said CCD founder was striving to resolve the business issues & bring the business back on the track.
The news of Siddhartha’s Missing Case is appalling to the entire CCD Team.
While VG Siddhartha has been unreachable as per the latest news, the company has confirmed to run its business. The company has also sought help from relevant authorities.
(70)