Last week, everybody across Karnataka, or maybe across India, became glued to the television to discover the fate of 1 guy — VG Siddhartha.
For many, he became largely an unknown face. The few who knew him have been conscious handiest of his identification as the owner of Café Coffee Day (CCD) — a series he had constructed for the reason that 1996.
That became until July 30, whilst the news of Siddhartha having gone missing was splashed across television channels and the front pages of important news outlets. After 36 hours of him going missing on July 29, his body was found in the morning of July 31 in the Netravati River near Mangaluru, from where he had allegedly drowned.
Those 36 hours saw a multitude of reasons surface from individuals who slightly knew him to become specialists on matters related to Siddhartha.
There have been discussions and top time debates on Siddhartha’s agency, debt profile and the way mounting money owed and connection with politicians should have driven him to the extreme.
Suddenly, all his businesses, from coffee to real estate, have been scrutinized. Analysts began placing various estimates on debt ranging anywhere between Rs three,500 crores and Rs eight,000 crores.
All based on a single letter, whose veracity is yet to be shown, purportedly written by way of Siddhartha on July 27.
But who becomes Siddhartha? According to his pals, Siddhartha changed into humble, unassuming, and courageous. That is why, for people who knew him and grew up with him, the unexpected disappearance and news of his demise that accompanied it seemed so uncharacteristic of him.
One of the espresso day board contributors advised CNN News18 that he/she too was greatly surprised through what had transpired. Siddhartha they’d regarded was nothing of that kind. He was a lot extra than that.
Vinay Madhav, Siddhartha’s neighbor from Chikkamagaluru and a close friend, said, “I have acknowledged Siddhartha from youth. He had solutions for the whole thing. You would continually see him smile even in the face of adversity.”
For this was no longer the primary time he had confronted public scrutiny. Madhav recounted a state of affairs whilst his father-in-law, SM Krishna, became Karnataka’s Chief Minister.
Siddhartha had to cope with the accusation of cash laundering all through that point. “There becomes much publicity surrounds it at that time. When I met him, he simply confirmed me few documents and said that he knew that at some point he might be affected and had evidence that might provide him a clean chit,” Madhav stated.
“But he no longer needed to accomplish that unless there was a need. That changed into the sort of man Siddhartha became,” he said.
Even as they talked about the debt, Madhav stated, Siddhartha had a penchant for information.
Siddhartha became more of a hands-on person. He cared about every element of his enterprise stepping into the nitty-gritty.
It changed into this interest to element that helped Siddhartha turn around Sivan Securities, the first business enterprise he bought with Rs 30,000 well worth shares in 1992 and construct an empire that now consists of actual estate, cement at one point and wealth control other than his coffee commercial enterprise.
Madhav talked about how Siddhartha changed into a visionary. “If you spot how he began CCD, it started as a cyber cafe in Brigade Road, first of its type in 1996.”
