Mengaluru: In a massive development into the much talked about missing case of popular coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day owner VG Siddhartha, a local fisherman has claimed that he saw a man jumping off the Netravathi River bridge in Bengaluru. Speaking to reporters, the fisherman said that he tried his best to save him but they could not find him in the water. He also told the media that the man, suspected to be CCD chief, jumped into the river at around 7 pm on Monday. Reports also revealed that the police received a call from the Siddhartha’s driver Basavaraj Patil that he had gone missing from the Netravathi river bridge.

The fisherman, Symond D’Souza told the media that he tried to help the man who fell, but couldn’t due to heavy rain. Based on information provided by the fisherman, the search operations were intensified around pillar number 8 on the bridge, where the man is suspected to have fallen. Siddhartha went missing on Monday.

Media reports suggest that he got out of his car near a bridge across the Nethravathi river in Mangaluru on Monday evening. His driver panicked after he did not return even after two hours and called his son.

Indian Coast Guard on Tuesday said it has deployed a ship off the old Mangalore port to search for Siddhartha. The Coast Guard said it has also pressed in three diving teams in the search operations. Siddhartha, the son-in-law of former Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna, was reported to have gone missing after he left from Bengaluru on Monday night.

According to a Police statement, Siddhartha, the son-in-law of former Karnataka chief minister SM Krishna, was reported to have gone missing after he left from Bengaluru on Monday night. A  group of Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs led by Shobha Karandlaje on Tuesday met Home Minister Amit Shah and sought central help to trace missing CCD chief.

MPs informed Shah that Siddhartha, a resident of her Udupi-Chikmagalur parliamentary constituency, is found to be missing since July 29 from Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. As off now there is no trace of Siddhartha and more than 150 rescue personnel including police, divers and fire and rescue operations are involved in the search operations on Nethravathi river.