B’desh violence: Protest in heart of city disrupts traffic
Chaos prevailed at the central business district in the city, which was in turmoil with traffic jams due to the Rani Rashmoni rally, organised by the Bangla Hindu Suraksha Samiti.
The popular retail chain Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) has shut operations today in remembrance of its founder-owner VG Siddhartha whose body was retrieved from a river near Mangaluru in Karnataka on Wednesday two days after he went missing.
“All our 1,750 retail outlets in about 240 cities will remain shut for the day as a mark of respect to our founder-chairman Siddhartha who is no more,” a company source was quoted as saying by IANS.
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The decision came just hours after Siddhartha’s body was fished out of the Netravati River on the west coast earlier in the day.
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Offices of the CCD, including the Coffee Global Enterprises and the Amalgamated Bean Coffee (ABC), will also remain shut across the country.
“A holiday has also been declared for the workers and employees of all coffee estates in the three coffee districts of Chikkamagaluru, Hassan and Kodagu in the southern state due to the sudden death of coffee king Siddhartha,” added the source.
The body of the coffee baron was found floating in the backwaters of the river by two fishermen around 6.30 am, during the massive search operation that was launched on Monday night by the state government after his driver filed a complaint that Siddhartha went missing from the road bridge over the river.
Siddhartha, 60, is the eldest son-in-law of BJP’s senior leader and state’s former CM SM Krishna.
Meanwhile, the Sensex on Wednesday opened on a negative note. News of CCD owner’s death shocked investors and led them to panic selling of the company’s stocks.
CCD stocks hit the lower circuit again for the second day in a row during early trade. It fell by 20 per cent to Rs 123.25 per share.
On Tuesday too, shares of Coffee Day Enterprises slumped as much as 20 per cent to 153.40 rupees, their lowest level on record.
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