CCD promoter Siddhartha's disappearance case: Police team leaves for Bengaluru
Mangaluru, Jul 30: As mystery shrouds Cafe Coffee Day founder V G Siddhartha's disappearance, Mangaluru Police Commissioner Sandeep Patil Tuesday said a police team has left for Bengaluru to conduct an inquiry and question office staff and relatives.
Asked about the letter purportedly written by Siddhartha to the Board of Directors, the commissioner told reporters "Siddhartha's family gave us the letter, so it has to be genuine.
We are inquiring into its contents also, for which a team has gone to Bengaluru," Patil said as the search for the businessman continued.
Patil said the team that has gone to Bengaluru will conduct an inquiry of the office staff and relatives and gather all information.
"A detailed technical investigation is also going on," he said.
Siddhartha had left from Bengaluru to Sakleshpur in Hassan district on Monday afternoon, but he asked his driver to turn towards Mangaluru on the way, according to police.
He was last seen near a bridge on Netravati river in Dakshina Kannada district on Monday night.
He had told his driver he was going for a walk near the bridge, police said.
"He (Siddhartha) asked the driver to wait till his arrival. When he did not return even after two hours, the driver approached the police and lodged a missing complaint," Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district Senthil Sasikant Senthil earlier said.
Patil said the police were questioning a fisherman who claimed that he saw someone jumping from the bridge.
Search operations were on at the place identified by the fisherman, he said.
Call Detail Records were also under scrutiny, Patil added.
In the unverified letter, widely circulated in the social media, Siddhartha alleged there was a lot of harassment from the previous DG of the Income Tax Department 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 (sic)".
"This was very unfair and has led to a serious liquidity crunch," the letter, bearing a purported signature of Siddhartha, said.
The department has refuted the charges.
"I have failed as an entrepreneur."
"...I have failed to create the right profitable business model despite my best efforts," Siddhartha, who built the coffee empire over the last 37 years, said in the letter.
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Thane gangrape case accused held in Pune after year-long hunt
Thane (PTI): Police have arrested a 22-year-old man from Pune who had been absconding for more than a year after being accused in a gangrape and robbery case in Maharashtra’s Thane district, officials said on Tuesday.
The accused, identified as Nagesh Keshav Gaikwad, was part of a group that allegedly confined a woman and sexually assaulted her under the pretext of getting her a job in November 2024, Naigaon police station's senior inspector Sanjay Hazare said.
The accused had been evading arrest by hiding his identity since the case was registered. Following a tip-off and technical surveillance, the police tracked him to Kamshet and took him into custody on Sunday, he said.
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The case dates back to November 27, 2024, when the victim went from here to Pune seeking employment. After missing an interview, she contacted her husband's friend Pawan Rajendra Prasad Sabbat (29), who promised to help her find work.
Sabbat then lured her to come to Mira Road in Thane, where he allegedly confined her in a room, the official said.
The investigation showed that Sabbat and two of his accomplices - Dhanraj Chavan (21) and Abhishek Pujari (22) - allegedly sexually assaulted the victim over several days. They also allegedly robbed the woman of her mobile phone, gold jewellery and cash, collectively valued at Rs 75,000, he said.
Sabbat also allegedly created a fake Instagram profile using the victim's name and uploaded her photographs to harass her.
Gaikwad was accused of molesting the victim and being involved in the robbery, Hazare said.
The Naigaon police had earlier arrested Sabbat, Chavan and Pujari.
"We have booked the accused under various Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections, including 64(2)(m) (rape), 309(1) (robbery), 70 (gang rape) and 75(1)(4) (sexual harassment), and relevant provisions of the Information Technology. During preliminary interrogation, Gaikwad has confessed to his involvement," Hazare said.
