Siddhartha had gone missing from the Netravati river bridge near Ullal in Mangaluru on July 29 evening and two days later, his body was found floating in the river
VG Siddhartha, owner of the Café Coffee Day chain. (Photo: AFP)
Cafe Coffee Day owner VG Siddhartha’s forensic reports have corroborated the suicide theory according to Mangaluru police commissioner PS Harsha.
The reports say water was found in Siddhartha’s lungs and his death was due to drowning, according to police sources. “We have received the FSL report. It corroborates the suicide theory,” the commissioner said.
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Siddhartha had gone missing from the Netravati river bridge near Ullal in Mangaluru on July 29 evening and two days later, his body was found floating in the river. He had left home on July 29 telling his family members that he was heading towards Sakaleshpura, where he had his coffee estate. However, he directed his driver to go to Mangaluru.
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At the Ullal bridge on the swollen Netravati river, Siddhartha got down from the car and asked his driver to wait for him as he walked on the bridge alone on the rainy evening without an umbrella. Two days later his body was found.
Nearly a month after his death, Siddhartha’s father 95-year old Gangaiah Hegde, who was in coma and was undergoing treatment at the Gopala Gowda Shanthaveri Hospital, died on Sunday, hospital authorities confirmed. A few days before his death Siddhartha visited his ailing father in hospital.
Siddhartha, was the eldest son-in-law of BJP senior leader and Karnataka’s former CM SM Krishna. Earlier in March, Siddhartha sold his entire 20 per cent equity stake in consultancy firm Mindtree to engineering and construction company Larsen & Toubro Ltd for Rs. 3,300 crore.
In his suicide note to the management and employees of CCD he has expressed unhappiness over not creating “the right profitable business”. The letter also talks about the harassment he had allegedly faced at the hands of tax officials.
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