Shivakumar demands probe in Siddhartha missing case

Hinting at a possibility of kidnapping, senior Karnataka Congress leader D K Shivakumar on Tuesday demanded an investigation in founder-owner of Cafe Coffee Day V G Siddhartha missing case.

The 58-year-old businessman, son-in-law of former Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna has been missing since last evening from Mangaluru.

Calling Siddhartha an "asset" for the country, Shivakumar told media, "This incident is hard to believe, I have asked for an investigation. He is an asset to the country, we don't know if he is missing or someone has taken him away."

Meanwhile, a massive search operation involving eight teams of police forces along with the Coast Guard and NDRF is underway to locate Siddhartha.

Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada Sasikanth Senthil told ANI, "We are conducting search and rescue operation. Eight teams are conducting search along with Coast Guard and NDRF. We have also asked for support from the Navy, Karwar."

Siddhartha was spotted last on Monday evening on the Netravati Bridge where he had gone for a stroll, Mangaluru Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil had said earlier today.

Deputy Commissioner Senthil said the police started the search operation at 11 am. "We were intimated at around 9 pm. The search and rescue mission began at 11 pm. We don't have much information on what exactly happened but we are trying to cover all angles. Based on our information we are searching for any signs of life."

"Our focus is now only on search and rescue mission," Senthil added.

Police have deployed dog squads and inflatable boats in the search operation and have roped in local fishermen to search the river.

Earlier today, Coffee Day Enterprises, the company which owns Cafe Coffee Day chain, wrote to the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) confirming the absence of its Chairman and Managing Director.

A letter written by Siddhartha surfaced today in which he apologised to people who "put their trust" in him and said he failed to create the right profitable business model despite his best efforts.

He also said that he was under "tremendous pressure" from one of "the private equity partners".

"Tremendous pressure from other lenders led to me succumbing to the situation," he wrote.

Siddhartha also alleged that he was being harassed by the previous Directorate General, Income Tax which led to him facing a "liquidity crunch".