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

Following a massive search operation of nearly 30 hours involving multiple agencies, the body of Café Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha was recovered from Nethravathi river near Mangaluru, police sources said.

Karnataka Bank on Tuesday said it has no exposure to Coffee Day Enterprises, though the company's global unit has an outstanding loan of Rs 152 crore. "This is to clarify that our bank does not have any exposure to Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd, an entity listed on BSE and National Stock Exchange of India Ltd," Karnataka Bank said in a regulatory filing. "However, Coffee Day Global, one of the unlisted group companies (erstwhile Amalgamated Bean Coffee, a customer of the bank since 1996) is enjoying credit facilities with the present outstanding of Rs 152.48 crore," it added. The loan to the global unit constitutes 0.29 per cent of total advances of the bank.

Cafe chain operator Coffee Day Enterprises on Tuesday said it is evaluating and assessing the situation after its chairman VG Siddhartha went missing since Monday evening. The company's board has held emergency meeting following disappearance of its founder and Chairman and Managing Director Siddhartha and also reviewed the letter purportedly signed by him and shared copies with relevant authorities, Coffee Day Enterprises said in a regulatory filing.

Shares of Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd dropped 20 per cent on Tuesday, eroding Rs 813 crore from its market valuation, after reports surfaced that its Chairman and Managing Director V G Siddhartha has gone missing. The scrip tumbled 19.99 per cent to Rs 154.05 -- its 52-week low as well as its lower circuit limit -- on the BSE. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), shares plummeted 20 per cent to its lowest trading permissible limit for the day as also its one-year low of Rs 153.40 apiece.

Senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar said he found the disappearance of Cafe Coffee Day founder V G Siddhartha "utterly fishy" and sought an investigation into it. The former Karnataka minister said the letter purportedly written by Siddhartha, "which is circulating", is dated July 27 (Saturday) and he received a call from the son-in-law of former Karnataka chief minister and BJP leader S M Krishna on Sunday asking if they could meet.

The Income Tax Department has denied charges of harassment during their probe against VG Siddhartha and official sources pointed out that the signatures of the entrepreneur available with them were different from those on a letter being widely published on the social media. They said the businessman had admitted holding stash income after raids were conducted against him and his concerns.