Bengaluru | Jagran News Desk: After over 24 hours of massive search operation, the police on Wednesday morning recovered the body of VG Siddhartha, the founder of famous Cafe Coffee Day chain and the son-in-law of former Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna, who had gone missing since Monday morning.
As of now, the police have not been able to ascertain the reason behind the death. However, they are suspecting suicide because of the letter they recovered on Tuesday which was purportedly written by Siddhartha to the family of the CCD.
Siddhartha, the founder of India’s largest coffee chain, went missing on Monday night en route to the coastal Karnataka city of Mangaluru, with a letter purportedly written by him showing he was under "tremendous pressure" from lenders and one of the private equity partners (PEs). The letter also alleged "a lot of harassment" from tax authorities.
In the letter reportedly written by Siddhartha to the board of directors and his CCD family before he went missing, he said he had “failed to create the right profitable business model despite my best efforts”.
Earlier, police said the body, which appeared to be of Siddhartha, was yet to be identified by his family.
"A body has been found, which appears to be of him. Final confirmation has to be done by the family," deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district Sasikanth Senthil told PTI.
Mangalore Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil said the body has been kept at Wenlock Hospital for further formalities.
Siddhartha, the founder of India's largest coffee chain, went missing mysteriously on Monday night en route to the coastal city of Mangaluru.
Teams of National Disaster Response Force, Coast Guard, Home Guard, fire services and coastal police scoured the waters under a bridge across the swollen Nethravathi river, where the 60-year old was reportedly last seen, to trace the coffee tycoon.
Siddhartha, also the son-in-law of former Karnataka chief minister and BJP leader S M Krishna, was last seen near the bridge in Kotepura area on Monday night, police said.
Siddhartha had left Bengaluru for Sakleshpur in Hassan district in a car on Monday afternoon, but on the way had asked his driver to go towards Mangaluru, police said.
On reaching the bridge, he got off the car and told his driver he was going for a walk.
A fisherman had on Tuesday claimed that he saw someone jumping off the bridge.