BANGALORE, India — Fishermen Wednesday found the body of an Indian coffee shop chain owner in a river, two days after he disappeared, police said.
The body of Cafe Coffee Day founder V.G.Siddhartha has been identified, police Commissioner Sandeep Patel said. He didn't give other details. An autopsy was being conducted and the cause of death was not disclosed.
Siddhartha, 60, traveled from Bangalore, now called Bengaluru, on Monday and left his car near a bridge in Dakshina Kannada district, also in Karnataka state.
He told his driver to wait, saying he was going for a walk near the bridge. When he didn't return for two hours, the driver notified police, police officer Sasikant Senthil said.
"I saw a body floating while I was fishing and then I informed the police. I participated in the rescue operation," the New Delhi Television news channel quoted Rithesh, a fisherman, as saying. Rithesh uses one name.
Siddhartha leaves behind a coffee shop chain with more than 1,500 stores across India with revenue of $630 million in 2017-18. It also has outlets in Austria, the Czech Republic and Malaysia, according to the chain's website.
He is survived by his wife and two sons.
He was a son-in-law of S.M. Krishna, a governing Bharatiya Janata Party leader, a former external affairs minister (2009-2012) and Karnataka's top elected official (1999-2004).