Bengaluru: The founder of the popular chain Cafe Coffee Day, VG Siddhartha, who is also the son-in-law of former Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna, has gone missing from near a river in Mangaluru in Karnataka, the police say.
According to reports, he was last seen on a bridge over the Netravati river in the coastal town.
Meanwhile, the police have launched a massive search operation near the 1-km-long bridge; divers are scanning the muddy river. Cops on inflatable boats have joined the search.
In his statement to the police, the businessman’s driver Basavaraj Patil said they were going to Sakleshpur from Bengaluru in a Toyota Innova, a 220-km drive, when in the middle of the journey Mr Siddhartha asked him to go to Mangaluru.
Just outside of Mangaluru, as they were approaching a bridge, the businessman asked the driver to stop the car and he got down.
Siddhartha told him to drive towards the other end of the bridge and wait there, Patil said.