V.G. Siddhartha, the founder of the famous chain Café Coffee Day (CCD,) went missing on the 29th of July.
On the night of the 29th of July, Mr. Sidhhartha, with his driver Basavaraj Patil, left his house in a Toyota Innova for Bengaluru.
Siddhartha was reported missing by Basavaraj Patil. Patil said, “He (V.G. Siddhartha) said he will walk and come… At 8 P.M., (an hour later) I (Basavaraj Patil) called him but his phone was (switched) off. Then I called his son and he said he’ll call him too. Later I filed a complaint (sic.)”
According to the police, Mr. Sidhhartha, the son in law of S.M. Krishna, the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, was last seen at the Ullal Bridge, Karnataka.
The police initiated a search operation and hired expert swimmers to look for Siddhartha. According to the police, Siddhartha may have jumped or fallen into the river as there was no one else during that time at the bridge.
Sandeep Patil, the Police Commissioner of Mangaluru, initiated an investigation and said, “A dog squad was used (on the bridge). It stopped at a point in the middle of the bridge. Local fishermen are helping in the search.”
It was also found, Siddhartha was upset due to his business and even wrote a letter to the board of directors and the employees of CCD. The letter read, “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. 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.”
The letter further read, “I sincerely request each of you to be strong and to continue running these businesses with new management. My team, auditors and senior management are totally unaware of all my transactions. The law should hold me and only me accountable, as I have withheld this information from everybody including my family. My intention was never to cheat or mislead anybody, I have failed as an entrepreneur.”
It is suspected Siddhartha committed suicide as he was upset with the downfall of his business and was not able to handle the stress.
Ministers and political leaders such as H.D Kumaraswamy, Shobha Karandlaje and others reached out to S.M. Krishna after Sidhhartha was reported missing.
V.G. Siddhartha’s sudden disappearance is a shock to his family members.
Shobha Karandlaje, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP,) requested the Central Government and Amit Shah, the Home Minister of India, to look into the matter and help trace Siddhartha.
Sanjay Nirupam, a leader of the Indian National Congress (INC,) took to Twitter and raised a question about Siddhartha’s letter, which stated he was not doing well as a businessman.
Nirupam said, “Café Coffee Day was considered a huge success story in the last 20 yrs. But suddenly, its owner and founder Sidharth is saying today that he failed as an entrepreneur. He is missing. What failed him eventually? Economic policy? Market forces? Or consumer behaviour? Or the recession has arrived? (sic.)”
The issue took a political turn too as Siddhartha is the son in law of S.M. Krishna, the former Chief Minister of Karnataka.
Read this letter. How the system is stacked against the job creators and entrepreneurs. And the Tax terrorism continues unabated in Modi’s India. #VGSiddhartha pic.twitter.com/XVy2LoDJCw
— हम भारत के लोग (@India_Policy) July 30, 2019
#VGSiddhartha‘s episode brings to the fore a grim reality for Job creators & entrepreneurs. You simply wont be allowed to succeed. One can either flee or can take their lives. Taxmen will rule us for eternity & create fear psychosis at every step of money making processes.
— Chetan Anantharamu ~ ಚೇತನ್ ಅನಂತರಾಮು (@gandabherunda) July 30, 2019
We all know him as co-founder of @CafeCoffeeDay
But VG Siddhartha was also instrumental in the INFY IPO.In 1993, when Infosys was getting a cold response to its IPO, V G Siddhartha, Vallabh Bhansali and Morgan Stanley, underwrote a fair chunk of the float.#VGSiddhartha
— Mangalam Maloo (@blitzkreigm) July 30, 2019
I can’t say I knew #VGSiddhartha but I had met him socially a couple of times. He introduced me to his ready-to-go brand of coffee (then called Drizzle, now FiltaFresh) which I still carry with me while travelling. He created an excellent brand.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 30, 2019
Former Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy visits former union minister SM Krishna’s residence. His son-in-law, #VGSiddhartha has been missing since Monday night.
Keep following our live blog for all the latest updates: https://t.co/3NZ732g1bM pic.twitter.com/f4hgTyWz67
— TOI Bengaluru (@TOIBengaluru) July 30, 2019
Twitter is flooded with messages and assumptions behind V.G. Siddhartha going missing, with #VGSiddhartha.
Embed tweets
The investigation is underway.
Stay tuned for further updates.
