RIP Siddhartha: CCD outlets across the country shut

Bengaluru, July 31 (IANS) Some outlets of the popular coffee chain Caf? Coffee Day (CCD) in the central business district of Bengaluru have been shut on Wednesday as a mark of respect to its founder-chairman V.G. Siddhartha, who died in coastal Karnataka under mysterious circumstances, a company source said on Wednesday.

"Retail outlets in the city centre, including our main coffee 'the square' opposite the famous Cubbon Park are closed for the day as a homage to our founder-chairman along with our main office above the caf?," a CCD source clarified to IANS here.

Earlier in the day, the source said all the CCD outlets across the country would remain shut as a mark of respect to Siddhartha.

"CCD offices, including that of Coffee Global Enterprises and the Amalgamated Bean Coffee (ABC), have also been shut across the country," the source said on the condition of anonymity.

"A holiday has also been declared for the workers and employees of all coffee estates in the three coffee districts of Chikkamagaluru, Hassan and Kodugu in the southern state due to the sudden death of coffee king Siddhartha," added the source.

The body of the 60-year-old coffee baron was found floating in the backwaters of the river by two fishermen around 6.30 a.m., during the massive search operation that was launched on Monday night by the state government after his driver filed a complaint that Siddhartha had gone missing from a road bridge over Netravati river.

Siddhartha was the son-in-law of senior BJP leader S.M. Krishna, who was the External Affairs minister during the UPA-2 government (2009-12) and former chief minister of the state from October 1999 to May 2004. He leaves behind widow Malavika Hegde and two sons.