Cafe Coffee Day founder V G Siddhartha (File)

Following the demise of Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) founder VG Siddhartha, top business leaders including Rajiv Bajaj, Sachin Bansal, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw expressed their shock and grief and paid tributes. “Cafe Coffee Day Owner’s Body Found By River 2 Days After He Went Missing – My deepest condolences to ⁦VG Siddhartha’s widow Malavika and his sons and to Shri & Smt SM Krishna and family. RIP,” Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson and Managing Director of Biocon said on twitter. Notably, VG Siddhartha’s body was found from the Nethravathi river in Mangalore, this morning, 36 hours after he went missing. 

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Rajiv Bajaj, MD of Bajaj Auto, recalled that V G Siddhartha was a soft spoken, gentle mannered and warm-hearted & uncommonly humble co awardee at a Forbes October 2011 event. “Hearing of his helpless pain enveloped me in a deep sadness yesterday. No well intentioned man & his family deserve today’s crushing confirmation. May God bless his kind soul, give every strength to his folks, and help the world mend its ways,” Rajiv Bajaj said. 

Very sad day , salute his entrepreunership ..some of us were daydreaming that he may not have jumped off the bridge …wish he had stayed alive to fight . My heart goes out to his family. May his soul RIP. https://t.co/ThU8hwzi3s

— CP Gurnani (@C_P_Gurnani) July 31, 2019

Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma paid his tributes by tweeting, “One more starry-eyed messiah meets a violent farewell. Saddened beyond words.” Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal said that he was always amazed by VG Siddhartha’s energy and positivity. Bansal noted that Siddhartha’s was an inspiring entrepreneur and investor.

I had known #VGSiddhartha personally and was always amazed at his energy and positivity. Distressed by his disappearance. He has been an inspiring entrepreneur and investor.

— Sachin Bansal (@_sachinbansal) July 30, 2019

“Very sad day , salute his entrepreneurship ..some of us were daydreaming that he may not have jumped off the bridge …wish he had stayed alive to fight . My heart goes out to his family. May his soul RIP,” CP Gurnani, CEO at Tech Mahindra said in a tweet. 

I did not know him & have no knowledge of his financial circumstances. I only know that entrepreneurs must not allow business failure to destroy their self-esteem. That will bring about the death of entrepreneurship. https://t.co/H4ysr8Ov3U

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) July 30, 2019

Earlier, In a letter admitting to wrong business decisions and concealing information, VG Siddhartha said that he faced harassment from previous DG of income tax pertaining to blocking the Mindtree deal. VG Siddhartha is the son-in-law of former CM of Karnataka SM Krishna. The leading coffee chain founder said that he faced turbulence in business, talking about the enormous pressure that he encountered from lenders that made him “succumb to the situation.”

???? saddened beyond words. https://t.co/4N935t9OSs

— Vijay Shekhar (@vijayshekhar) July 31, 2019

I am indirectly related to VG Siddhartha. Excellent human and brilliant entrepreneur. I am devastated with the contents of his letter. The Govt Agencies and Banks can drive anyone to despair. See what they are doing to me despite offer of full repayment. Vicious and unrelenting.

— Vijay Mallya (@TheVijayMallya) July 30, 2019

According to the letter, one of the private equity partners of the company forced VG Siddhartha to buy back shares, which, he said, he partially completed six months ago after taking a large loan from a friend. Meanwhile, Cofee Day Enterprises has confirmed the authenticity of the letter, saying that the founder had written it to the board on 27th July.