Siddhartha’s body found on river bank
| Date :01-Aug-2019 |
Family members and relatives pay their last respects to the mortal remains of CCD founder V G Siddhartha, in Chikmagalur on Wednesday
MANGALURU/BENGALURU:
BILLIONAIRE coffee tycoon V G Siddhartha, whose body was fished out of a river two days after he went missing, was on Wednesday cremated at his estate in his home district of Chikmagalur after hundreds of people paid a tearful adieu to him. Amid a sombre atmosphere, his son Amartya lit the funeral pyre after the last rites were performed according to the traditions of the Vokkaliga community from which he hailed, in the presence of a large number of people.
Poignant scenes were witnessed as Amartya broke down several times while performing the rituals. The 87-year-old former Chief Minister S M Krishna, father-in-law of Siddhartha and his wife Prema too fought hard to control their emotions. A police official said “everything” points to suicide, but nothing can be ruled out until the investigation is over. Siddhartha, whose chain of cafes helped make coffee a lifestyle beverage and brought in latte, cappuccino, Americano and espresso into the urban Indian lexicon, was 59. He is survived by his wife Malavika and two sons, Amartya and Ishaan. His body was identified by his friends, said Dakshina Kannada district Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil.
The remains of Siddhartha was traced after 36 hours of an intensive search operation with a letter allegedly written by him to the Board of Directors and employees of his company Coffee Day Enterprises, showing he was struggling with financial problems due to debt, taxes and share buy backs. The search involved multiple agencies, which scoured the waters under a bridge across Nethravathi, where Siddhartha, founder of India’s largest coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day, was reportedly last seen on Monday night, officials said.
After the post-mortem at Wenlock Hospital in Mangaluru, the body was taken to Siddhartha’s home district of Chikmagalur A large number of people from within the coffee estate and neighbouring villages, whom Siddhartha had helped come up in life, thronged to pay their homage to the ‘coffee king’. Before Chethanahalli, the body was kept at Chikkamagalur for people to pay their last respects. Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, his predecessor H D Kumaraswamy and several political leaders attended the funeral.
Siddhartha’s body was found by local fishermen and patrolling policemen on the banks of Nethravathi river near Mangaluru on Wednesday, two days after he went missing. Borrowing Rs five lakh from his father to pursue his dreams, Siddhartha, known for being shy and self-effacing, went on to become “coffee king”, creating jobs for thousands of youth instead of joining the family business. The family owned over 350 acres of coffee estate and had been in the business for over 140 years. A senior police official told PTI, “Investigation is going on. Prima facie every thing points out to that (suicide) only. But we still we can’t rule out anything. We will have to finish the investigation”.
“We have found the body..... I have no words to comfort the family,” Yediyurappa said in Bengaluru. “He had more assets than liabilities,” Yediyurappa added. Senthil said the body was spotted by local fishermen and police, who had been patrolling the banks of the river. The authorities predicted the probable location where the body could be traced using a “model” developed by Hyderabad based Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, which makes predictions based on current, low and high tide among other parameters, he said.