CCD CMD VG Siddhartha missing since Monday evening; shares tank 20 pc

Cafe chain Coffee Day Enterprises on Tuesday confirmed that it's Chairman and Managing Director V G Siddhartha has been missing since Monday evening.

"V G Siddhartha, Chairman and Managing Director of Coffee Day Enterprises Limited is not reachable since yesterday evening. We are taking the help of concerned authorities," Coffee Day Enterprises said in a regulatory filing.

"Company is professionally managed and led by competent leadership team, which will ensure continuity of business," the filing added.

Shares of Coffee Day Enterprises tanked 20 per cent and hit the lower circuit limit as well as 52-week low of Rs 154.05 apiece on BSE after news surfaced that its founder has gone missing.

Siddhartha, the son-in-law of former Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna, was headed for Sakaleshpur but on the way he had asked his driver to go towards Mangaluru, according to the police.

On reaching a bridge over the Netravati river in the Kotepura area in Dakshina Kannada district, he got down from the car and told his driver that he was going for a walk.

"He (Siddhartha) asked the driver to wait till his arrival. When he did not return even after two hours, the driver approached the police and lodged a missing complaint," deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district Senthil Sasikant Senthil told PTI.

More than 200 policemen and divers on about 25 boats were carrying out searches for him.

The deputy commissioner said that sniffer dogs have also been pressed into service.

"The help of local fishermen is being taken in the search. We are checking who all he spoke to over phone," Mangaluru Police Commissioner Sandeep Patil said in a message.

Congress MLA U T Khader, who reached the spot, told local news channels that the police were looking into "all angles". "The search is on," he said.

In Bengaluru, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa visited S M Krishna's residence and held discussion with the family members.

Senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar also visited Krishna's residence.