'I Have Failed As Entrepreneur': Missing CCD Founder Wrote To Board Of Directors; Letter Inside

A letter written by VG Siddhartha to the board of directors of Cafe Coffee Day bring fresh twist to former External Affairs Minister SM Krishna's son-in-law's missing case

CCD founder VG Siddhartha / AFP image

New Delhi: Hours after missing reports of former Karnataka CM SM Krishna’s son-in-law and Café Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha from Bengaluru came to light, a letter written by him to the Board of Directors of the company has brought a twist in the story.   Ina letter written to his board of Directors, Siddhartha took the blame stating he was at fault for not being able to create right profitable business model despite his “best efforts”. He further sought apology from those who showed trust in him. “I have fought for  a long time but today I gave up as I could not take any more pressure from one of the private equity partner forcing me to buy back shares, a transaction I had largely completed six months ago by borrowing a large sum of money from a friend” the letter read. “I sincerely request each of you to e strong and continue running these businesses with new management” the letter read. “I am solely responsible for all the mistakes. Every financial transaction was my responsibility and my team, auditors and senior management are unaware of all my transactions.” It said. It concluded by saying “I have enclosed a list of all our assets and tentative value of each asset. As seen below our assets outweigh our liabilities and can help repay everybody”.

Founder & owner, Cafe Coffee Day (CCD), #VGSiddhartha's letter to employees and board of directors of CCD, states, "Every financial transaction is my responsibility...the law should hold me & only me accountable."; He has gone missing from Mangaluru, search operation underway. pic.twitter.com/0GJc5vmvYt

— ANI (@ANI) July 30, 2019

Series of events:

Siddhartha was headed for Sakaleshpur but on the way he had asked his driver to go towards Mangaluru, according to the police. On reaching a bridge over the Netravati River in the Kotepura area in Dakshina Kannada district, he got down from the car and told his driver that he was going for a walk. "He (Siddhartha) asked the driver to wait till his arrival. When he did not return even after two hours, the driver approached the police and lodged a missing complaint," deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district Senthil Sasikant Senthil told media.

Searches to find the missing entrepreneur:

More than 200 policemen and divers on about 25 boats were carrying out searches for him. The deputy commissioner said that sniffer dogs have also been pressed into service.  "The help of local fishermen is being taken in the search. We are checking who all he spoke to over phone," Mangaluru Police Commissioner Sandeep Patil said in a message. Congress MLA U T Khader, who reached the spot, told local news channels that the police were looking into "all angles". "The search is on," he said.

Karnataka CM visits SM Krishna:

In Bengaluru, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa visited S M Krishna's residence and held discussion with the family members. Senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar also visited Krishna's residence.