Cafe chain Coffee Day Enterprises on Tuesday confirmed that it's chairman and managing director V G Siddhartha has been missing since Monday evening.
"V G Siddhartha, chairman and managing director of Coffee Day Enterprises Limited is not reachable since yesterday evening. We are taking the help of concerned authorities," Coffee Day Enterprises said in a regulatory filing.
"Company is professionally managed and led by a competent leadership team, which will ensure continuity of business," the filing added.
Shares of Coffee Day Enterprises tanked 20 percent and hit the lower circuit limit as well as 52-week low of Rs 154.05 apiece on BSE after news surfaced that its founder has gone missing.
Siddhartha, the son-in-law of former Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna, was headed for Sakaleshpur but on the way, he had asked his driver to go towards Mangaluru, according to the police.
On reaching a bridge over the Netravati river in the Kotepura area in Dakshina Kannada district, he got down from the car and told his driver that he was going for a walk.
"He (Siddhartha) asked the driver to wait until 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 told PTI
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(With inputs from agencies)