Cafe Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha’s body was found on the banks of the Netravati river, near Hoige Bazaar in Mangaluru, on Wednesday, two days after he went missing, ANI reported. Siddhartha was the son-in-law of Bharatiya Janata Party leader SM Krishna. “We found the body early morning today,” said Mangaluru Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil.
Local fishermen and the police, who were patrolling the banks of the river, spotted the body. Authorities had predicted the probable location where the body could be using a model developed by the Hyderabad-based Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services that uses information such current flow, low and high tide, and other parameters, said Dakshina Kannada district Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil.
Mangaluru MLA UT Khader said the entrepreneur’s friends and relatives identified the body, PTI reported. After the postmortem examination, the body was taken to his estate in Chikkamagaluru, according to PTI.
Siddhartha was last seen on a bridge over the Netravati in the coastal town on Monday evening, the police had said. Unidentified police officials said Siddhartha had informed his family that he was going to Sakleshpur in Hassan district while leaving Bengaluru. Once he left home, he allegedly told his driver to head towards Mangaluru. Several police teams subsequently began to search the Netravati for Siddhartha on Tuesday.
Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and Congress leaders DK Shivakumar and BL Shankar had visited SM Krishna at his residence in Bengaluru on Tuesday after Siddhartha had gone missing. Yediyurappa tweeted on Wednesday: “I am deeply shocked and hurt by the demise of former Chief Minister SM Krishna’s son-in-law and Cafe Coffee Day founder Siddhartha. May God give strength to his family and may his soul rest in piece. Om shanti.”
Yediyurappa said funeral arrangements were being made. “I will also attend it,” PTI quoted him as saying. “I have no words to comfort the family. He had more assets than liabilities.”
Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah also expressed his condolences. “Very sad to know about the unfortunate death of Shri. V G Siddhartha,” he said. “His contribution to Karnataka and India through his entrepreneurship shall be an example and always be remembered.”
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