Baiyappanahalli-MG Road metro service in Bengaluru to be disrupted on weekend

Transport

Train operations on the Green Line (Nagasandra- Yelachenahalli) and rest of the Purple Line stretch will remain unaffected.

TNM Staff

Metro services in Bengaluru will be hit on Saturday (August 3) night and Sunday (August 4) morning between Baiyappanahalli and MG Road stations and vice-versa on the Purple Line due to regular maintenance works.  Chief PRO (public relations officer) Yashwant Chavan of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) said, “On August 3, the last through train from Baiyappanahalli to Mysore Road will leave Baiyappanahalli Station at 9.30 pm and the last through train from Mysore Road to Baiyappanahalli will leave Mysore Road Station at 9.00 pm.”  He added, “However, the train services will continue to be available between MG Road and Mysore Road stations till the end of the closing hours on August 3 and from 7 am to 11 am on August 4.” Train operations on the Green Line (Nagasandra- Yelachenahalli) and rest of the Purple Line stretch will remain unaffected. Metro officials said this disruption was necessary as the work involves electrical, civil and mechanical work. “Some of the work can’t be done accurately in the night. That’s why we need to work with full daylight. This has got nothing to do with the earlier structural damage,” a Metro employee said.  Last such scheduled disruption was in March when trains between National College and Yeshwantpur metro stations were stopped one and half hours earlier than the usual closing time.  Prior to this, train services on the same Purple Line were stopped between MG Road and Indiranagar for three days in December 28, 2018 -January 1, 2019, for repair works on the structure of the Metro bridge.  On December 9, 2018, a team of Metro officials had found a honeycomb formation in a concrete structure near the Trinity Metro Station while inspecting the Metro tracks. The officials found that the slider (ramp on which tracks are laid) was also dislocated. Currently, Bengaluru has two Metro lines intersecting at Majestic. While the Green Line between Nagasandra-Yelachenahalli spans 24.22 km, the Purple Line between Byappanahalli-Mysuru Road runs for 18.08 km. Over the years, the Metro has seen a growth in ridership with an average of 4 lakh-plus people using it daily.

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VG Siddhartha missing: I-T Dept’s statement brings political twist to case

Missing

I-T department questions the authenticity of the note and alleged that the signature does not tally with VG Sidhhartha's signature as available in his annual reports.

Shilpa S Ranipeta

Theja Ram

After the disappearance of Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha Hegde, a letter was allegedly found on his computer, which he purportedly wrote. The letter said that Siddhartha was under pressure from a private equity partner who was forcing him to buy back Mindtree and Coffee Day shares and that he faced harassment from a former Director General of Income Tax. With these explosive allegations doing the rounds, many have been terming this 'tax terror' and the Income Tax Department has now come out with a note justifying the search and seizure operations conducted on properties owned by VG Siddhartha in September 2017. For starters, the clarification from the I-T department questions the authenticity of the note and alleged that the signature does not tally with VG Sidhhartha's signature as available in his annual reports. The Income Tax Department stated that the sleuths began investigating Siddhartha’s business dealing after a raid was conducted on properties belonging to a 'prominent Karnataka political leader'. “The investigation in the case of Shri VG Siddhartha and Cafe Coffee day (CCD) arose from the search in the case of a prominent political leader of Karnataka. It is based on the unearthing of a credible evidence of financial transactions done by the CCD in a concealed manner,” the Income Tax Department’s statement said.  The search operation on the politician also lead them to unaccounted cash of Rs 1.2 crore with a person holding Singaporean citizenship. This person, the Income Tax Department says, admitted that the cash belonged to VG Siddhartha. During the search operation, the sleuths VG Siddhartha allegedly admitted to possessing unaccounted income of Rs 362.11 crore and Rs 118.02 crores via M/s Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd. The department states that VG Siddhartha had also signed a sworn statement to this regard. “Siddhartha, subsequently filed the Return of Income but did not offer the above undisclosed income as admitted in the sworn statement in both the cases except sum of around Rs.35 Crores in his individual case. Further one of the group company M/s Coffee Day Global Ltd has not paid the Self-Assessment Tax of Rs 14.5 Crores on the returned income. M/s Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd did not offer the admitted income in its part,” the statement says. With regard to the Mindtree shares that Siddhartha talked about in his letter, the I-T department said that it came to know about Siddhartha’s plans to sell the equity shares of Mindtree through reports on January 21, 2019 after which an immediate verification of the facts was carried out. The department found that the tax ramification of this deal along with interest and penalty based on the outcome of the search action runs in to hundreds of crores. Moreover, the department says that Siddhartha did not file any application before the assessing offer as required under the statutory provision before transferring any assets when the income tax proceedings are pending. “In order to protect the interests of revenue, the provisional attachment of 7490000 shares of Mindtree Limited owned by Shri VG Siddhartha and M/s Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd u/s 281B of the Income Tax Act was made though they together held 22931518 shares). This action is a normal requirement to protect the interests of revenue,” the statement said. Post this, when the shares were released after Siddhartha filed a request letter to release Mindtree shares and in turn offered other security of shares of M/s Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd against the expected demand. But this was done with a specific condition that the sale proceeds will be utilized only for repayment of loans availed against the Mindtree Ltd shares by opening escrow account and the remaining balance will be provided for attachment u/s 281B against the tax liability to arise. “The assessees had transferred the Mindtree Ltd shares to M/s L&T Infotech Ltd 28.04.2019 and received around Rs 3200 crores. Out of this consideration, the assessee had repaid loan of around Rs 3000 crores and paid expenses related to transfer of 154 crores and the balance of Rs 46 crores was paid towards first instalment of Advance Tax of estimated MAT liability of around Rs 300 crores in the case of shares of M/s Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd. As against the balance MAT liability of Rs 250 crores and tax liability arising based on search findings to the tune of approx. 400 crores, the provisional attachment made by the department is less than 40% of the likely tax liability,” the department said in a statement, adding that the Income Tax department acted as per the provisions of Income Tax Act.  

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VG Siddhartha missing: Fisherman says he saw someone jumping off the bridge

Missing

The police also received a call from the Siddhartha’s driver Basavaraj Patil that he had gone missing from the Netravathi river bridge.

TNM Staff

It was a tip-off from a local fisherman, that helped narrow down the search for missing Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha Hegde. On Monday night, at around 8 pm, the Kanakanady Police allegedly received a tip-off from a local fisherman that he had seen someone fall of the bridge over Netravathi River. Soon after, the police also received a call from the Siddhartha’s driver Basavaraj Patil that he had gone missing from the Netravathi river bridge. It was these two reports that led the police to believe that Siddhartha may have fallen or jumped off the bridge. The fisherman, Symond D’Souza told the media that he tried to help the man who fell, but couldn’t due to heavy rain. “I am here at Ullala. My house is near the railway bridge. At around 5:30 pm (on Monday), I took my fishing net and was returning home. On my way back, I saw a man jumping off the bridge. I don’t know who this man was. I was rushing towards him. But he had reached the deep waters by then,” Symond says. Symond took his boat out to help the man, who allegedly fell into the water but he couldn’t manage by himself. “Soon, we had some boats here. But, I think he had reached the bottom of the waterbed. I am 65 years old and all my life I have been fishing. I have a small boat. We looked for him but we couldn’t find him,” Symond added. Based on this information, the search operations have intensified around pillar number 8 on the bridge, where the man is suspected to have fallen. V G Siddhartha went missing on Monday. He got out of his car near a bridge across the Nethravathi river in Mangaluru on Monday evening. His driver panicked when he did not return in an hour, and called his son. The son found that Siddhartha’s mobile was switched off.  The Dakshina Kannada police have been searching for Siddhartha since last night. A dog squad found the tracks had stopped in the middle of the bridge. More than 150 rescue personnel including police, divers and fire and rescue operations are involved in the operations on Nethravathi river.

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BJP government in Karnataka cancels controversial Tipu Jayanti celebrations

Politics

Reacting to it, former CM Siddaramaiah said that it is a “crime” to cancel Tipu Jayanti celebrations and that the BJP was against minorities.

TNM Staff

Representation Photo

The controversial state-sponsored celebration of Tipu Jayanti has now been cancelled by the BJP government led by Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. In an order issued by the Principal Secretary of the Kannada and Culture Department, the state-sponsored celebration of Tipu Jayanti was cancelled on Tuesday after Virajpet MLA KG Bopaiah wrote a letter stating that it was causing communal conflicts in Kodagu district. “There is huge opposition for the celebration of Tipu Jayanti across the state and there have been several protests against it in many districts in the last few years. Even the people are against celebrating Tipu Jayanti in these districts. Several people have also died due to conflicts because of this and it is a burden on the public exchequer. Hence, as on July 30, Tipu Jayanti celebrations have been cancelled,” Principal Secretary PS Malati’s order states. Speaking to the media, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said that he instructed the Department of Kannada and Culture to cancel the Tipu Jayanti celebrations with immediate effect. “Tipu Jayanti was cancelled after a cabinet meeting today (Tuesday). I directed the department to cancel it as people have died and it had led to failure of law and order in the state,” BS Yeddyurappa said. Reacting to the move, Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that it is a “crime” to cancel Tipu Jayanti celebrations, while stating that the BJP was against minorities. “I started Tipu Jayanti Celebration 3 years ago. People of Karnataka accepted it. He was a man who fought against British rule. He's the first freedom fighter of the country. He's a historical man. That's why we celebrated and took a decision to celebrate it. Tipu is a minority man and BJP is against minorities. BJP people are not secular. This shows their thinking and I oppose this move 100%,” Siddaramaiah said. Joining the bandwagon, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee  President Dinesh Gundu Rao said that he was not surprised by the move. Stating that the BJP’s agenda was to polarise the population, Dinesh Rao said that the move was initiated to make political gains. “Across the country, minorities are being attacked and that is their agenda. BJP wants to divide the population and indulge in politics of hate. We are not at all surprised that they would do this. We expected it,” he said. The Congress, however, says that Tipu Jayanti will be celebrated with pomp and that the BJP could not stop them. Former Minorities Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan said that the decision would be opposed in the Assembly. “We will oppose it in the Assembly. Siddaramaiah started the celebrations when he was the Chief Minister. The BJP had been opposing it since it began. This year too, we will celebrate Tipu Jayanti and we will do it with more pomp and grandeur,” Zameer Ahmed Khan said. Tipu Jayanthi was officially celebrated by the state government for the first time on November 10, 2015 when the Congress was in power. Every year, in the days leading up to Tipu Jayanti, the BJP, RSS and other groups ran a campaign claiming that Tipu Sultan had persecuted Kodavas and Christians in Mangalore (now Mangaluru). On that day as tensions mounted, two people were killed, although the circumstances surrounding their death still remain unclear. However, the Congress government led by then CM Siddaramaiah had continued to celebrate it.   

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VG Siddhartha missing: Yediyurappa, Kumaraswamy, others visit father-in-law SM Krishna

Missing

VG Siddhartha, the founder of Coffee Day, went missing in Mangaluru on Monday night.

Haripriya Suresh

Haripriya Suresh

There has been a steady stream of visitors from across the political spectrum to the home of former External Affairs Minister and former Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna, whose son-in-law VG Siddhartha, the founder of Coffee Day, went missing on Monday night. Karnataka Chief Minister Yediyurappa and former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy visited the BJP leader’s residence on Bengaluru early on Tuesday morning, soon after the news of the disappearance broke. JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda also paid a visit on Tuesday afternoon.  Since then, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and his son Priyank, Congress Gadag MLA HK Patil, Congress Shivajinagar MLA Roshan Baig, Congress leader DK Shivakumar, former Deputy CM Parameshwara, BJP Molakalmuru MLA Sriramulu have all visited SM Krishna's residence. Leaders have also written to the Centre asking for a probe into the entrepreneur's disappearance. BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje, in a letter to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, sought the assistance of the Coastguard and Central forces to find the entrepreneur. Speaking to reporters, DK Shivakumar said, "I suspect that he may be in the water but mostly that someone has taken him away. He called me on July 28 and told me he wanted to meet me. I told him I would meet him the next day or the day after that. But now I have received this information. The police are probing the matter. He is not just a mere person but someone who gave jobs to over 50,000 people of the state." In a tweet, DK Shivakumar said it was 'unbelievable' that Siddhartha would resort to this, and said that the matter was fishy. The letter purportedly written by Shri VG Siddhartha which is circulating is dated July 27th. I received a call from him on the 28th asking if we could meet up. It’s unbelievable that a courageous man like him would resort to this. pic.twitter.com/bXcJhHz0QS — DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) July 30, 2019 However, I find this utterly fishy and urge that a thorough Investigation be conducted into this matter. Shri Siddhartha and his family were closely known to me for decades now. — DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) July 30, 2019 "However, I find this utterly fishy and urge that a thorough Investigation be conducted into this matter. Shri Siddhartha and his family were closely known to me for decades now," he said.  SM Krishna was associated with the Congress for many years, before joining the BJP in 2017. The former Union Minister, Siddhartha's wife and sons are said to be inside the residence.  Siddhartha and his left Bengaluru on Monday afternoon, informing his family that he was going to Sakleshpur in Hassan district. However, once in the car, he told his driver to proceed to Mangaluru. He got out of his car near a bridge across the Nethravathi river in Mangaluru and when he didn't return for over an hour, his driver informed the family. The Dakshina Kannada police have been searching for Siddhartha since last night.  On Monday, a letter purportedly written by Siddhartha addressed to the Board of Directors emerged where he blamed himself for failing as an entrepreneur and said that he failed to create the right profitable business model despite his best efforts. While the authenticity of the letter is yet to be ascertained, it goes on to note that he was under tremendous pressure from lenders.  

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'I find his disappearance fishy': DK Shivakumar on VG Siddhartha missing case

Missing

DK Shivakumar who is also SM Krishna's neighbour visited the family on Tuesday morning.

TNM Staff

Hours after VG Siddhartha, the owner-founder of the Café Coffee Day chain and the son-in-law of BJP leader SM Krishna went missing in Mangaluru, an intensive search operation has been launched to trace him. However, former Water Resources Minister and Congress leader DK Shivakumar, who paid a visit to SM Krishna on Tuesday, says he suspects that Siddhartha may have been abducted. “The current suspicion is that he may be in the water but my suspicion is that that someone has taken him away. I have a doubt that there could be deeper reasons for this. Whatever it may be, the investigation will reveal. He called me on July 28 and told me he wanted to meet me. I told him I would meet him the next day or the day after that. But now I have received this information that he is missing. He is a man with a big heart, who gave jobs to over 50,000 people of the state,” DK Shivakumar said.   DK Shivakumar who also lives near SM Krishna tweeted that he has known the family for decades and that he finds the disappearance fishy. Siddhartha went missing on Monday night near the Nethravathi river in Mangaluru. According to police sources, Siddhartha left Bengaluru informing his family that he was going to Sakleshpur in Hassan district. However, once he left home, he allegedly told his driver to head towards Mangaluru. When they reached the Nethravati Bridge, he was on a call and informed his driver that he is going to take a walk and would be back. Over an hour after he left, his driver got worried and called his cellphone multiple times but it was switched off. Thereafter, his driver, informed Siddhartha’s family and the police.  One hundred and fifty rescue personnel including firefighters, divers, coast guards, fishermen and State Disaster Response Force and boats have been deployed to look for Siddhartha in the Netravathi River. Indian Coast Guard has deployed its assets ICGS Rajdoot (tasked to patrol off old Mangalore Port and maintaining sharp lookout very close to harbour mouth), Air Cushion Vehicle (Hovercraft) (undertaking search in Nethrvathi River and providing support to cg diving teams),  three CG Diving Teams along with District Disaster Relief Team has been deputed to carry out search for missing person and ICGS Savitribai Phule kept standby for deploying off old Mangalore port at short notice.

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Failed as an entrepreneur: Letter reportedly from VG Siddhartha before he went missing

Coffee Day

The letter purportedly written by CCD boss VG Siddhartha blames I-T officer of harassment

TNM Staff

A letter purpotedly written by VG Siddhartha, the founder of the Café Coffee Day chain and son-in-law of BJP leader SM Krishna, who went missing in Mangaluru on Monday night,has now emerged. The letter dated July 27 was addressed to the Coffee Day Board of Directors and employees  The letter states that he “failed as an entrepreneur” and that he is “solely responsible for all mistakes. He goes on to state that his intention was “never to cheat or mislead anybody”. While the authenticity of the letter is yet to be ascertained, it goes on to note that he was under tremendous pressure from lenders. In a letter addressed to the Board of Directors, Siddhartha wrote, “After 37 years, with strong commitment to hard work, having directly created 30,000 jobs in our companies and their subsidiaries, as well as another 20,000 jobs in technology company where I have been a large shareholder since its founding, I have failed to create the right profitable business model despite my best efforts.” TNM spoke to SV Ranganath, a board member of Coffee Day Enterprises and Mangaluru police commissioner Sandeep Patil. While Ranganath didnt receive a copy of the letter, the commissioner only said that it was still under investigation. The letter has still not been confirmed by anyone working with the company. Saying that he gave it his all, he continued, “I am very sorry to let down all the people that put their trust in me. 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, transaction I had partially completed six months ago by borrowing a large sum of money from a friend. Tremendous pressure from other lenders lead to me succumbing to the situation. There was a lot of harassment from the previous DG income tax 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 the revised returns have been filed by us. This was very unfair and has led to serious liquid crunch.” VG Siddhartha went missing on Monday. He got out of his car near a bridge across the Nethravathi river in Mangaluru. His driver panicked when he did not return in an hour, and called his son. The son found that Siddhartha’s mobile was switched off.  The Dakshina Kannada police have been searching for Siddhartha since last night. A dog squad found the tracks had stopped in the middle of the bridge. Police also said that a man had jumped off the river, and they suspect it could have been Siddhartha. The first CCD outlet was opened in 1996 and since then, the popular coffee chain has grown to 1750 stores across India and has 60,000 vending machines. Outside of India, it has a presence in Vienna, the Czech Republic, Malaysia, Nepal and Egypt.  As on March 31, 2019, the total debt of Coffee Day Enterprises stood at Rs 6,547 crore, which is nearly 2.5 times the net worth of Rs 2,529 crore. Apart from coffee retailing, the Coffee Day Group has dealings in logistics, technology parks (SEZ and STP scheme), financial services and investments in technology and software companies. Early signs of VG Siddhartha looking to pare down debt desperately started with him looking to sell his stake in Mindtree. Siddhartha was one of the earliest investors of Mindtree and held 20.42% stake. Reports at the time suggested that he was looking to sell this stake to pay back Rs 300 crore to income tax authorities. In March, Siddhartha made about Rs 3,200 crore by selling the 20.32% stake held by him and two CCD affiliate firms (Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd and Coffee Day Trading Ltd) in software services company Mindtree Ltd to Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) in March. After this, there were media reports that Coffee Day was in talks to sell a substantial stake to beverage giant Coca Cola and was eyeing a valuation of Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 crore from the stake sale. In September 2017, the Income Tax department had conducted a search-and-seize operation at 25 locations of CCD and its group companies in Karnataka, Mumbai and Chennai. The I-T department had then stated that Siddhartha had concealed an income amounting to over Rs 650 crore. THE income Tax department had seized various documents from his house and office. The officials were looking into a number of violations of various statues and had said that they had found ample evidence of concealed income. The corporate office of the amalgamated bean company, which runs CCD's retail outlets, were searched. They found a number of documents on properties, business transactions and other dealings, which the department has been probing since September 2017. Shares of Coffee Day Enterprises plunges 20% after Siddhartha went missing. The stock has hit a 52-week low and is currently trading at around Rs 153.40   Full letter here:  To our Board of Directors and Coffee day family, After 37 years with strong commitment to hard work, having directly created 30,000 jobs in our companies and their subsidiaries as well as another 20,000 jobs in technology company where have been a large shareholder since its founding. I have failed to create the right profitable business model despite my best efforts.  I would like to say I gave it my all. I am very sorry to let down all the people that put their trust in me. 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. Tremendous pressure from other lenders lead to me succumbing to the situation. There was a lot of harassment from the previous DG income tax 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 the revised returns have been filed by us. This was very unfair and has led to a serious liquidity crunch. I sincerely request each of you to be strong and to continue running these businesses with a new management. I am solely responsible for all mistakes. Every financial transaction is my responsibility. My team, auditors and senior management are totally unaware of all my transactions. The law should hold me and only me accountable, as I have withheld this information from everybody including my family. 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. I have enclosed a list of our assets and tentative value of each asset. As seen below our assets outweigh our liabilities and can help repay everybody. Regards, V.G Siddhartha

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