VG Siddhartha, the founder of the popular coffee chain Café Coffee Day and son-in-law of former Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna, reportedly sent a letter to employees and Board of Directors of the company before he went missing on a bridge in Mangaluru on Monday.
In the letter, tweeted by news agency ANI, Siddhartha alleges harassment by an income tax officer and expresses regret for "failing to create the right profitable business model despite my best efforts."
“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,” he wrote in the letter.
“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,” the letter further reads.
Siddhartha was last seen on a bridge in over the Netravati river in the Kotepura area in Dakshina Kannada district.
He was headed for Sakaleshpur but on the way he had asked his driver to go towards Mangaluru, according to the police.
On reaching a bridge over the Netravati river in the Kotepura area in Dakshina Kannada district, he got down from the car and told his driver that he was going for a walk.
"He (Siddhartha) asked the driver to wait till his arrival. When he did not return even after two hours, the driver approached the police and lodged a missing complaint," deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district Senthil Sasikant Senthil told PTI.
More than 200 policemen and divers on about 25 boats were carrying out searches for him.
The deputy commissioner said that sniffer dogs have also been pressed into service.
(With inputs from agencies)
