The funeral of Cafe Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha, whose body was found 36 hours after he went missing from a bridge near Mangaluru in Karnataka, took place at one of his coffee estates at his village in Chikkamagaluru district on Wednesday evening. Hundreds of people, including Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, senior Congress leader DK Shivakumar and other senior politicians, attended the funeral. The 60-year-old businessman was the son-in-law of former Karnataka chief minister SM Krishna.
VG Siddhartha’s body was found by two fishermen, floating in the backwaters of the Netravathi river this morning. It was handed over to his family after an autopsy.
VG Siddhartha’s body was then taken to the Coffee Day Global Enterprises office in Chikkamgaluru on way to the village that is 150 kilometres from Mangaluru.
Amartya, VG Siddhartha’s son, lit his father’s funeral pyre after the last rites in the presence of a large number of people. He broke down several times while performing the rituals. An emotional SM Krishna, VG Siddhartha’s father-in-law, was also at the funeral.
BS Yediyurappa tweeted his condolences after the funeral.
“In the moment of grief I paid my tribute to one of the pioneers in the coffee retail industry, the founder of Cafe Coffee Day & Former CM Sri S M Krishna’s son in law, Sri. VG Siddartha. My heart goes out to his family. He will always be remembered,” he tweeted.
