VG Siddhartha: Congress blames I-T officials, tax terrorism for CCD founder's death

Congress has taken to Twitter to blame Income Tax officials for the death of Cafe Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha. After his disappearance on Monday evening started a full-fledged search by the Karnataka Police, the businessman's body was found on Wednesday morning around 6:50 am. In a letter he had sent a day before his disappearance Siddhartha had said that he was sorry to let people who put their faith in him down. He also said that he faced a lot of harassment from DG of the tax department as well as partners of a private equity firm.

Following the tragic development on Wednesday morning, Karnataka Congress tweeted that his death is the result of decline of "India's entrepreneurial position turning virulent by the day, with tax terror and collapse of economy".

They also added that companies that flourished under UPA are crumbling now.

#VGSiddhartha case is very unfortunate.

Result of harassment by IT officials & decline of India's entrepreneurial position turning virulent by the day, with Tax Terror & collapse of economy

Companies which flourished under UPA have been shut down with many people being jobless pic.twitter.com/rbwUymoM3B

- Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) July 31, 2019

Shashi Tharoor also said that 'Ease of Doing Business' has transformed into 'Ease of Ending Business' under BJP.

"Ease of Doing Business" under BJP translates into "Ease of Ending Business". The #VGSiddhartha tragedy reflects the worst of a broader, deeply worrying trend: https://t.co/9aeN6930Hk https://t.co/52ZmK3toDj

- Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 31, 2019

Anandpur Sahib MP and Congress leader Manish Tiwari also blamed I-T department. He said that Siddhartha was allegedly harassed and hounded to commit suicide by an unnamed DG of the department.

My profound Condolences to #VGSiddhartha 's entire family. Very Very tragic what happened. Allegedly Harassed & hounded to commit Suicide by among others a yet unnamed DG of the Income Tax going by the document in the public space. May his soul rest in peace .

- Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) July 31, 2019

Also read: VG Siddhartha death Live Updates: CCD owner's body to be taken to Chikamagalur for last rites

On Tuesday, Aam Aadmi Party national spokesperson Raghav Chadha also blamed "regulatory compliances, bad policies and political meddling" for Siddhartha's disappearance.

Unable to cope with abuse of state instrumentalities, never ending regulatory compliances, bad policies, political meddling & economic slowdown architects of India's corporate empires are ending their lives. It has come to 'unease of doing business' in India.#VGSiddhartha

- Raghav Chadha (@raghav_chadha) July 30, 2019

In the letter undersigned by Siddhartha, he had said, "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 (sic)."

Upon finding the body, Mangaluru Police Commissioner Sandeep Patil said, "We found the body early morning today. It needs to be identified, we have already informed the family members. We are shifting the body to Wenlock Hospital. We will continue further investigation."

Also read: Cafe Coffee Day stock falls 20% to hit historic low after death of founder VG Siddhartha

Also read: VG Siddhartha's death: Vijay Mallya says 'govt agencies, banks' can drive anyone to despair