Cafe Coffee Day founder’s body recovered from river bank; firm names interim chief

Relatives pay last respects to Cafe Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha in Chikmagalur on Wednesday. (PTI)

“We searched for the body for over 24 hours with NDRF, coastal security and coast guard resources pressed into service. Local fishermen also helped us. The body was found this morning. Further investigations are on,’’ Sandeep Patil, Mangalore City Police Commissioner, said.

Mangalore Police also dispatched a team to the Cafe Coffee Day headquarters in Bengaluru to investigate the death, including a letter that Siddhartha, the 60-year-old son-in-law of former Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna, had purportedly written two days before his disappearance in which he suggested frustration over his inability to steer the firm through financial turbulence.

A few hours before his disappearance, the businessman had instructed his personal secretary to disseminate the letter to staff members at Coffee Day Enterprises, the company that runs the coffee chain, Tuesday. Mangalore Police are looking at using the letter as evidence to support the theory that the businessman committed suicide “after much planning”.

Police have also found a witness in Simon D’Souza, a fisherman who reported seeing a man jump off the bridge over the Nethravathi around 7 pm on July 29, around the time Siddhartha left his driver waiting in his car near the bridge and disappeared.

Siddhartha’s body was taken to Wenlock Hospital in Mangalore for a post mortem and was later transported to his native Chattanahalli village in the coffee district of Chikamagalur for the last rites.

On Wednesday, the Coffee Day Enterprises board held a meeting and paid tribute to the contributions of Siddhartha to the growth of the firm. It also appointed former Karnataka chief secretary S V Ranganath as interim chairman and Nitin Bagmane as interim chief operating officer.

“The Board took cognizance of statements in the purported letter from Mr V G Siddhartha relating to financial transactions outside the knowledge of the senior management, auditors and the Board. While the authenticity of the letter is unverified and it is unclear whether these statements pertain to the Company or the personal holdings of Mr V G Siddhartha, the Board took serious note of the same and resolved to thoroughly investigate this matter,’’ the company statement said. Siddhartha is survived by wife Malavika and their two sons.