CHIKKAMAGALURU/MANGALURU: The body was immediately sent to the nearby Government Wenlock Hospital for an autopsy and later sent to Chikkamagalur in an ambulance by 10.50 am.
The cremation took place at Chethanahalli Coffee Estate in Belur bordering Mudigere taluk in Chikkamagaluru with his elder son Amarthya performing the rituals as per Vokkaliga community tradition along with his younger brother Ishan. Political leaders cutting across party lines including Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, former CMs H.D. Kumaraswamy and Siddaramaiah and former external affairs minister and Siddhartha’s father-in-law S.M. Krishna besides hundreds of relatives, friends, employees of various companies set up by the coffee tycoon and residents of surrounding villages attended the last rites at around 7 pm.
The cremation site was chosen as per the wishes of Siddhartha’s mother Vasanthi Hegde at an open field in the estate.
His wife Malavika was inconsolable and so was Mr Krishna who was seen trying to hold back his emotions.
Siddhartha’s father Gangaiah Hegade (96) is in a coma and had been admitted by his only son to a private hospital in Mysuru city a couple of days back. His relatives have not yet been able to overcome the shock of the 59-year-old’s untimely death and were seen consoling each other. Also seen at the funeral were Siddhartha’s mother-in-law Prema Krishna, former minister T.B. Jayachandra, BJP leaders R. Ashok and C.T. Ravi and MLC Pranesh, and D.K.Shivakumar who accompanied Mr Krishna on a helicopter from Bengaluru to Chikkamagalur.
Earlier, the mortal remains of Siddhartha were shifted from Mangaluru to Chikkamagaluru town in an ambulance and were kept for public viewing at the premises of Coffee Day Global Limited on Chikkamagaluru-Kadur Road from 2.45 pm to 4.35 pm before they were shifted to Chetanahalli estate. There was jostling all round as people rushed to have a last glimpse of the CCD owner who had provided thousands of jobs to youth of the region.
Meanwhile, Coffee Day Enterprises named independent director S.V. Ranganath as the interim chairman of the company to replace Siddhartha. The company board, wherein Siddhartha’s wife Malavika Hegde is a director, met on Wednesday to put in place a working structure of the company. The board also appointed Nitin Bagmane as an interim chief operating officer of the company.
The political battle over the death of the CCD owner continued on Wednesday with the state Congress unit seeking an impartial and fair investigation into the death saying “the invisible hands that ended his life” should be uncovered. Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah said the letter supposed to have been written by Siddhartha a few days before his death talked about ‘tax terrorism’, which is the ‘ugly face of politically motivated institutions’.
“What signals are we sending to budding entrepreneurs without even an attempt to reform?” he wondered. B R Balakrishnan, the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (IT), Bengaluru will face a police probe in connection with suspicious death of CCD founder V G Siddhartha.
B R Balakrishnan, the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (IT), Bengaluru will face a probe in connection with suspicious death of CCD founder V G Siddhartha.
