Indian Coffee Magnate VG Siddhartha Found Dead

Only two days after he was reported missing, V.G. Siddhartha, founder of India’s largest coffee chain Café Coffee Day, has been found dead. He was 59.

According to CNN, police announced Wednesday that Siddhartha’s body was recovered from a river in Mangalore in the state of Karnataka. He was said to be unreachable since Monday and was believed to have leapt from a bridge over the Netravati River.

The parent company of Siddhartha’s company, Coffee Day Enterprises (CDE), issued a statement mourning the company's founder.

“The Board noted with profound regrets the tragic demise of Mr. V. G. Siddhartha and his matchless energy, vision and business acumen which helped to single-handedly build the Company,” the statement said.

“The Board expressed its condolences to Mr. V. G. Siddhartha's family and resolved to lend its support and expressed full confidence in the Company's management team. The Board also took note of a message from Mrs. Malavika Hegde expressing support and trust in the Company's professional team and the common effort to look after the interest of the employees and all other stakeholders.”

CDE also released a letter purportedly written by Siddhartha prior to his disappearance.

“I would like to say I gave it my all,” the letter reads. “I am very sorry to let down all the people that put their trust in me. I fought for a long time but today I gave up as I could not take any more pressure from one of the private equity partners forcing me to buy back shares, a transaction I had partially completed six months ago by borrowing a large sum of money from a friend.”

Café Coffee Day was founded in 1993 and as of 2018 had more than 1,700 locations in 245 Indian cities, dwarfing Starbucks’ 146 store presence in the country.

Internationally, the chain has outlets in Austria, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Nepal, and Malaysia, while also exporting its products to vendors in North America, Europe and the Middle East.