VG Siddhartha dead: Close ties with Congress leader DK Shivakumar may have landed CCD founder in trouble

A day after Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) founder VG Siddhartha’s body was fished out on the banks of the Nethravathi river near Mangaluru, Bengaluru’s business and political circles have come to believe that there are chances that his problems cropped up from his close ties with Congress leader DK Shivakumar, reported The Times of India. This comes after the income tax (I-T) department in its press statement said that the raids against Siddhartha were a follow-up action to raids in the properties belonging to a ‘prominent Karnataka politician’. Shivakumar himself had also tweeted saying that he got a call from missing CCD founder on 28 July, when he asked if they could meet. Siddhartha went missing from 29 July night. His driver alerted the family after he got off his car at a bridge near the Nethravati River, near Mangaluru and did not return after an hour. His body was found after intensive search operations, reported Moneycontrol.

The letter purportedly written by Shri VG Siddhartha which is circulating is dated July 27th.

I received a call from him on the 28th asking if we could meet up.

It’s unbelievable that a courageous man like him would resort to this. pic.twitter.com/bXcJhHz0QS

— DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) July 30, 2019

The Times of India reported that the investigation by I-T department in Siddharth’s case arose from the search of Shivakumar and his financial consultant N Chandrashekhar Sukapuri. Shivakumar, who has declared assets over Rs 700 crore is one of the richest politicians in Karnataka. He came under the I-T scanner after his properties were raided in August 2017, the day 44 Gujarat Congress MLAs were flown down to stay at a resort near Bengaluru to ensure Ahmed Patel was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha. I-T officials also said these documents revealed alleged financial transactions between the Congress leader’s close kin with CCD Ltd and M Soul Space. While speaking to The Times of India, Sivakumar’s brother DK Suresh said that the I-T department was trying to connect Siddhartha’s shares in Mindtree in which he held 20.3 percent stake. Siddhartha, in his letter , mentioned about the attachment of ‘Mindtree Ltd’ shares by the income tax department which led to a “serious” liquidity crunch. The Mangaluru Police, which is investigating his death, says that they will question the former I-T official mentioned in Siddhartha’s alleged death note and that the letter has been sent to the FSL to verify its authenticity. “The owner of one of the private equity firms Siddhartha had mentioned in the letter is in Mumbai, we will question him and also the former Income Tax DG. Establishing whether the letter is authentic is the first step,” the police said to The News Minute. With inputs from agencies