"I have failed as an entrepreneur" V G Siddhartha in his letter to Cafe Coffee Day employees
Bengaluru: "I have failed as an entrepreneur," V G Siddhartha, who has gone missing, has said in a letter purportedly written to the Board of Directors and employees of Coffee Day Enterprises, he founded.
There was no immediate confirmation on whether the letter was written by him, though it was written in his letter head with signature.
"After 37 years, with strong commitment to hard work, having directly created 30,000 jobs in our companies and their subsidiaries, as well as 20,000 jobs in technology company where I have been a large shareholder since its founding, I have failed to create the right profitable business model despite my best efforts", he said.
"I would like to say I gave it my all. I am very sorry to let down all the people that have put their trust in me," he said in the letter, widely circulated in the social media.
Siddhartha said he 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".
"Tremendous pressure from other lenders lead to me succumbing to the situation", he said.
Siddhartha alleged in the letter that there was a lot of harassment from the previous DG Income Tax in the form of attaching "our shares on two separate occasions to block our Mindtree deal and then taking position of our Coffee Day shares, although revised returns have been filed by us".
"This was very unfair and has led to a serious liquidity crunch," he said.
"I sincerely request each of you to be strong and to continue running these businesses with a new management.I am solely responsible for all mistakes. Every financial transaction is my responsibility," Siddhartha said adding his team, auditors and senior management were "unaware" of his transactions.
Siddhartha said the law should hold him accountable, as he had withheld this information from everybody including his family.
Claiming that his intention was never to cheat or mislead anybody, he said, "I have failed as an entreprenuer. This is my sincere submission. I hope someday you will understand, forgive and pardon me".
Siddhartha said "...our assets outweigh our liabilities and can help repay everybody".
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England''s improbable task: Can it chase down 435 to keep Ashes hopes alive?
Adelaide (AP): Ben Stokes and his England bowling attack did everything possible Saturday morning to keep the Ashes series alive, taking six Australian wickets for 78 runs and setting up a target of 435 to win the third cricket test.
It would take a world-record chase to win at the Adelaide Oval, but with a relatively flat wicket and five sessions remaining it wasn't entirely out of the question.
It didn't start well for England, with Australia skipper Pat Cummins taking a wicket with his second ball to remove Ben Duckett (4).
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At lunch on Day 4, England was 5-1 and needed 430 for an unlikely victory. Australia needed nine wickets to clinch the series with two tests to spare.
After losing the first two tests in Perth and Brisbane, England needs a victory to keep the five-match series alive. Australia needs only a draw to retain the Ashes.
Still, for England, it's a far better equation than it appeared at stumps on Day 3, when Australia reached 271-4 in its second innings, a lead of 356, with Travis Head unbeaten on 142 and Alex Carey on 52.
The Australians, already with a 2-0 series lead and needing only a draw in Adelaide to retain the Ashes, were all out for 349, a lead of 434. Travis Head's dismissal for 170 triggered a lower-order collapse, with the last six wickets falling for 38 in 11 overs.
The record test run chase was West Indies' 418 in a three-wicket win over Australia at Antigua in 2003.
England has successfully chased 370-plus targets twice to win against India in the last three years.
England's rallyMomentum was all Australia's way initially, even to the point of getting an extra run when a fielder's throw at the non-striker's end deflected and rolled away to allow the batters to return for 2.
Head raised his 150 soon after, and gave a very brisk wave ot the bat to acknowledge it.
His 219-run innings came when he pulled a short ball from Josh Tongue (4-70) high and deep into the outfield where Zak Crawley took a catch looking into the sun at deep mid-wicket.
The end of the 162-run fifth-wicket stand had Australia at 311-5 in the eighth over of Day 4.
Carey took the lead to 400 with a cut boundary off Stokes, leaving the England skipper grimacing and shaking his head.
Josh Inglis got a reprieve on 3 when he was adjudged lbw to Stokes but immediately reviewed and had the decision overturned. At that stage, Australia led by 409.
Stokes made a momentum-swinging breakthrough when he had Carey out for 72, tucking a short ball around the corner and caught at leg slip.
Brydon Carse (3-80) was on a hat-trick when he had Cummins (6) caught behind, stretching to swat a wider ball, and trapped Nathan Lyon lbw on the next ball.
No. 11 Scott Boland left a wide ball to deny England its first Ashes hat-trick since 1999, but he was out soon after when Jofra Archer (1-20) had him fending away a short ball and offering a return catch.
