Two days later, CCD owner’s body found

Mangaluru/Bengaluru, July 31

Billionaire coffee tycoon VG Siddhartha, who went missing on Monday, is dead and his body was recovered from the banks of the Nethravathi river near Mangaluru in Karnataka on Wednesday.

Siddhartha (59), son-in-law of BJP leader and former External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, was cremated in a sombre atmosphere after hundreds paid a tearful homage to the “Coffee King” at his Chetanahali estate in his ancestral village in Chikkamagaluru. Siddhartha, whose chain of cafes helped make coffee a lifestyle beverage, is survived by his wife Malavika and sons Amartya and Ishaan. A police official said “everything” points to suicide, but nothing could be ruled out until the investigation was over.

The body was found by local fishermen and patrolling policemen, two days after he went missing under mysterious circumstances. His body was identified by his friends, said Dakshina Kannada DC Sasikanth Senthil. — PTI

Interim chief 

The CCD has appointed SV Ranganath as the interim chairman of the board of directors and Nitin Bagmane as an interim chief operating officer of the company.