Live updates: VG Siddhartha cremated at his ancestral village in Karnataka

The letter, apart from making allegations about the income-tax department, also claims he was facing intense harassment from one of his investors. “I fought for a long time but today I gave up as I could not take any more pressure from one of the private equity partners forcing me to buy back shares, a transaction I had partially completed six months ago by borrowing a large sum of money from a friend,” the letter says. While he has not named the investor, speculation has been rife on the internet as to who it could be. Investors in CCD include NLS Mauritius LLC, KKR Mauritius PE Investments II Ltd, Marina West (Singapore) and Marina III (Singapore) with Rs 4.72 crore or 22.35% stake between them. Norwaybased foreign portfolio investor Government Pension Fund Global holds 2.31%. Other investors include Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani with a 2.69% stake, and investor Kammargodu Ramchandregowda Sudhir with a 2.49% stake. Founder Siddhartha’s stake in CCD is about 32.75%, of which 71.4% or 4.93 crore shares are pledged. The letter also mentions that “tremendous pressure from other lenders lead me succumbing to the situation”. CCD has had to borrow heavily in the past year. Its borrowing have gone up 63.54% in one year to Rs 6547.38 crore as of March 2019, according to CMIE data. The letter also added: “My intention was never to cheat or mislead anybody. I have failed as an entrepreneur. This is my sincere submission. I hope someday you will understand, forgive and pardon me.”

Earlier this month, when a CEO of a realty firm ran into Café Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha and his son Amartya at Taj Lands End in Mumbai, Siddhartha told him how the Columbia Business School educated youth was warming up to business by learning how to deal with income tax-related concerns. This perfectly conjures up the trials and tribulations of the ‘Bean king’ in recent months. In an irony of cinematic proportions, Siddhartha, an intensely private man who abhorred publicity and was painfully shy, has perhaps met the most public of ends.

A sharp spike in short-term loans to continue funding his business expansion over the past 12 months may have cost VG Siddhartha significantly, as the overall liquidity crunch in the financial system after the IL&FS crisis made it tough to get additional loans. Besides, the failure of pushing through the sale of a real estate holdings, which could have brought much-needed additional liquidity, could have also helped ease his financial situation, said sources close to the Coffee Day Enterprises founder. Till the day before he disappeared on July 29, Siddhartha was trying to get a loan of about Rs 1,600 crore from one of the country’s top lenders to avert the crisis. This would have eased his financial situation significantly, especially as the company had just sold off 20% stake in Mindtree to conglomerate L&T for Rs 3,200 crore to ease the pressure. After taxes and expenses, this deal brought in net proceeds of Rs 2,100 crore to bring down the debt. After the Mindtree deal, the sale of Global Tech Village, a 4-million sqft development spread over 120 acres in Bengaluru, was in the works in a Rs 2,800-crore deal. Private equity major Blackstone along with local developer Salarpuria Sattva was in the race to acquire it.

Police Commissioner Sandeep Patil on Wednesday confirmed that further investigation will be carried out in the case of CCD founder-owner VG Siddhartha who disappeared during a walk at Netravati bridge while asserting that the family members have been informed about recovering of a body. "We have found the body in the early morning. It needs to be identified, we have already informed family members, for further, we are shifting the body to Wenlock hospital. We will continue the further investigation," he said.