Cafe Coffee Day owner V G Siddhartha, the son-in-law of former Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna, went missing from Mangaluru on Tuesday after leaving for the city from Bengaluru on Monday night. Siddhartha was last seen near Ullal bridge over the Netravati river. He is suspected to have committed suicide by jumping into the river.
In a letter purportedly written by him to the Board of Directors of his company dated July 27, 2019, Siddhartha said he had “failed to create the right profitable business model”. The letter also addressed to ‘Coffee day family’ reads that Siddhartha was “very sorry to let down all the people that put their trust in me”. When contacted, Coffee Day Enterprises declined to comment on the authenticity of the letter.
“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 partially completed six months ago by borrowing a large sum of money from a friend…,” the letter reads.
"This is to inform you that, Mr V G Siddhartha, Chairman and Managing Director of Coffee Day Enterprises Limited has not reachable since yesterday evening. We are taking the help of concerned authorities. Company is professionally managed and led by competent leadership team, which will ensure continuity of business," Coffee Day Enterprises said in a statement.
Here’s the letter Siddhartha purportedly wrote to the board of directors of Coffee Day Enterprises.