Rs.650-cr assets 'unearthed' during I-T raids on Siddharth

Income Tax sleuths, searching former chief minister S M Krishna’s son-in-law V G Siddharth’s house and business establishments in Bengaluru and elsewhere in the state and country, have reportedly unearthed Rs 650 crore worth of unaccounted assets. 

Siddharth is the chairman and managing director of Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd and also has other business interests in financial services (way2wealth) and luxury resorts. I-T sleuths raided his house and other firms on September 21 in Bengaluru, Hassan and Chikkamagaluru in Karnataka, Chennai and Mumbai. the searches ended on Sunday.

“The searches involving coffee, tourism, information technology and other areas concluded with an unearthing of Rs 650-crore assets. The detection of undisclosed income is expected to be a much higher figure,” stated a senior I-T officer.There are a



number of other issues, including violations of other statutes, on which there is no disclosure, but relevant evidence has been found. These will be pursued, an official stated.

Locations searched in Bengaluru included the group’s head office at UB City on Vittal Mallya Road, Siddharth’s house in Sadashivanagar, and his establishments at Rajarajeshwari Nagar and Bagmane Tech Park in C V Raman Nagar. The sleuths seized documents from the office of Coffee Day Global on K M Road in Chikkamagaluru, ABC Coffee Curing, on Belur Road, two estates in Mudigere taluk, a residential school in Chikkamagaluru, and the Serai resorts.

Siddharth, who hails from a family that owns coffee plantations spread over 10,000 acres in Chikkamagaluru, is the founder-owner of the Cafe Coffee Day chain, India’s largest coffee retail chain.