A tycoon of Indian coffee found dead: left letter and blame his partner for his suicide

V. G. Siddhartha, about sixty years old, was last seen on Monday by his driver, walking on a bridge in the state of Karnataka (South India). After a while, seeing that he was not coming back, the driver of the coffee mogul alerted the authorities.

Police divers, badisted by local fishermen, searched the waters of the Nethravathi River near the town of Mangalore. This is a fisherman who found the body on the banks of the river.

"Siddharta's body was found early this morning," said Karnataka Police Assistant Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil. "We sent the body to the autopsy and we are waiting for the results."

According to the local press, V.G. Siddhartha was in a depressed state Due to financial problems. Several media published a letter from Siddhartha to shareholders of companies in which he regretted leaving "those who trusted him".

"I've long struggled, but today I gave up because I could not stand the pressure of one of the partners who forced me to buy their shares"said the letter, which looks like a letter of goodbye.

V. G. Siddhartha, who has been in the coffee business for 130 years, owns 12,000 hectares of plantations, and his Amalgamated Bean Company (ABC) is the largest exporter of green coffee in India (unroasted). In 1996, it launched the Coffee Coffee Day chain, which has 1,700 stores in India, but also in Malaysia, Egypt, the Czech Republic and Austria.

Coffee Day Enterprises, whose share lost 20% of its value on Tuesday after learning of Siddhartha's demise, said it "would guarantee business continuity."