VG Siddhartha unreachable, CCD informs NSE; shares tank
While search for CCD founder VG Siddhartha is underway, the company in a letter has informed the National Stock Exchange (NSE) that the business is running as usual.
In the letter, CCD says: "This is to inform you that VG Siddhartha, Chairman and Managing Director of Coffee Day Enterprises Limited has not been reachable since yesterday evening. We are taking the help of concerned authorities. Company is professionally managed and led by competent leadership team, which will ensure continuity of business."
Meanwhile, 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 the news surfaced.
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.
