VG Siddhartha (AFP photo)

BENGALURU: A letter purportedly written by CCD founder VG Siddhartha , who body was recovered on Wednesday morning after 36 hours of search operations, has gained a lot of traction on social media.

The letter, apart from making allegations about the income-tax department, also claims he was facing intense harassment from one of his investors. "I 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," the letter says.

While he did not name the investor, speculation has been rife on the internet as to who it could be.

Investors in CCD include NLS Mauritius LLC, KKR Mauritius PE Investments II Ltd, Marina West (Singapore) and Marina III (Singapore) with Rs 4.72 crore or 22.35% stake between them. Norway-based foreign portfolio investor Government Pension Fund Global holds 2.31%. Other investors include Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani with a 2.69% stake, and investor Kammargodu Ramchandregowda Sudhir with a 2.49% stake. Founder Siddhartha's stake in CCD is about 32.75%, of which 71.4% or 4.93 crore shares are pledged.

The letter also mentions that "tremendous pressure from other lenders lead me succumbing to the situation". CCD had to borrow heavily in the past year. Its borrowing have gone up 63.54% in one year to Rs 6547.38 crore as of March 2019, according to CMIE data.

While the company has borrowed from banks, NBFCs and mortgage trusteeships. Its heaviest borrowings are from IDBI Trusteeship Services (Rs 4,575 crore), Axis Trustee Services (Rs 915 crore), Axis Bank (Rs 315 crore), Yes Bank (Rs 274 crore) and Aditya Birla Finance (Rs 278 crore). Other lenders with exposure, include Edelweiss Finance, Kotak Mahindra Investments, Piramal Trusteeship Services, Rabo India, RBL Bank , Shriram City Union Finance.

The letter also added: "My intention was never to cheat or mislead anybody. I have failed as an entrepreneur. This is my sincere submission. I hope someday you will understand, forgive and pardon me."

Siddhartha, the founder of India's largest coffee chain, went missing mysteriously on Monday night en route to the coastal city of Mangaluru.

His body was found on Wednesday in the Netravati river in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka after 36 hours of intense search.

The body had washed ashore near Ullal and was fished out by local fishermen.



In Video: Row erupts after missing CCD founder VG Siddhartha's letter blames I-T officials for 'harassment'