Reportedly Cafe Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha, who has been missing since 6 pm on July 29, said he 'failed as an entrepreneur' in a letter to board and employees. Meanwhile the police are conducting a search operation in the Nethravati river near Mangaluru. siddhartha said in a letter dated July 27 I sincerely request each of you to be strong and to continue running these businesses with a new management".
Furthermore Siddartha said he was under 'tremendous pressure' from private equity partners to buy back their shares, a transaction he had partially undertaken after borrowing money from a friend. Further the Cafe Coffee Day founder also spoke of a liquidity crunch due to harassment from a previous Director General of Income Tax with regard to the Mindtree deal. siddhartha had recently sold 20.3 percent stake in Mindtree to L&T.
siddhartha added "There was a lot of harassment from the previous DG of Income Tax in the form of attaching our shares on two separate occasions to block our Mindtree deal and then taking over our Coffee Day shares, although the revised returns have been filed by us". Moreover he took complete responsibility for the situation, saying that none of his team members, auditors and senior management was aware of these transactions. Siddhartha said "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".
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