New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: In a shocking incident, the famous Indian coffee manufacturer Cafe Coffee Day’s owner VG Siddhartha went missing on Monday evening after his driver dropped him near Netravati river in Mangaluru.
Just after the incident was reported to the police, search operations were carried out by the police officials and his body was finally found after 24 hours on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a letter written by VG Siddhartha addressed to the Board of Directors of the Cafe Coffee Day family has reportedly surfaced which hinted towards a suicide. In the letter, he has written, "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 borrowing a large sum of money from a friend."
Also Read: Missing CCD founder VG Siddhartha's body recovered from Netravati River
In his last letter, to the board and family of CCD, VG Siddhartha has written, "My intention was never to cheat or mislead anybody, I have failed as an entrepreneur. This is my sincere submission, I hope someday you will understand, forgive and pardon me."
Born in a family of plantation owner in Chikmagalur district of Karnataka, who has been in the business of coffee plantation for around 140 years, VG Siddhartha founded the Cafe Coffee Day brand which became a household name in Indian Markets.
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After earning a Masters degree in economics from the Mangalore University, Siddhartha joined JM Financial Limited in 1983-1984 in Mumbai as a management trainee in Portfolio Management and securities trading. He returned to Bangalore after two years and bought a stock market card for Rs 30,000, along with a company called Sivan Securities, which was renamed in 2000 as Way2wealth Securities Ltd.
This company's venture capital division came to be known as Global Technology Ventures (GTV). By 1985, he owned 10,000 acres of coffee farms and reportedly doubled the money he had invested in plantations after the liberalisation of coffee trading in the 90.
He later, was married to the daughter of former Karnataka chief minister SM Krishna, Malavika Krishna and has two children.
He holds the position of Chairman and Managing Director of Coffee Day Enterprises (Ltd) and was a board member of Way2wealth Brokers Pvt Ltd and Coffee Day Natural Resources Pvt. Ltd.
He led Cafe Coffee Day to 1,752 outlets across India as of March 2019. His firm Coffee Day Enterprises clocked revenue of Rs 1,777 crore and Rs 1,814 crore In FY18-19 respectively. The company is reportedly eyeing revenue of Rs 2,250 crore by March 2020.
Siddhartha's firm Amalgamated Bean Company is one of India's largest exporters of coffee. He also has several other businesses in the technology and the hospitality sectors. He has as many as 60,000 coffee vending machines in India as well as in some foreign countries.
According to reports, Siddhartha in March this year garnered about Rs 3,200 crore by selling the 20.32% stake held by him and two CCD affiliate firms (Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd and Coffee Day Trading Ltd) in software services company Mindtree Ltd to Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T). The deal has reportedly helped him repay his debt of about Rs 2,900 crore, vastly improving his financial condition. CCD had reportedly run into losses of Rs 7,000 crore.
Gaining controversy, Siddhartha was raided by Income Tax department on alleged charges of tax evasion in September 2017. Raids were conducted at over 20 locations in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Chikmagalur by the IT departments of Karnataka and Goa. Sleuths with the I-T department had stated that Siddhartha had previously concealed income exceeding Rs 650 crore.
On 30th July he went missing suddenly from Mangaluru. It is expected that V.G. Siddhartha may jump into the Netravati River in Mangaluru. But nothing can be said exactly and search is on.