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New Delhi, Jul 25: Nearly a year after Cafe Coffee Day founder V.G. Siddhartha's death, the probe committee appointed by the Board of Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd (CDEL) has given a virtual clean chit to private equity investors and the Income Tax Department who were named in his last letter.
The investigation report noted that Siddhartha may have felt "aversive behavioural stimulus" due to persistent reminders from the PE investors and other lenders.

"However, such reminders and follow-ups by the PE investors and lenders are not something which are beyond normal industry practices and we believe that PE investors were acting as per accepted legal and business norms," said that report.

It further said that the investigators were not provided with any documentary evidence to show any "advertent or inadvertent harassment" from the Income Tax Department.

It however, said that the financial records suggest a serious liquidity crunch which may have arisen due to the attachment of Mindtree shares by the IT Department.

Further, the probe revealed that MACEL, a private firm of Siddhartha, owes Rs 2,693 crore to Coffee Day Enterprises, which the report says, "needs to be addressed".

The Cafe Coffee Day founder's body was fished out of the Netravathi river in Karnataka by a group of fishermen on July 31 last year, a day after he went missing.

His last note raised several questions about the role of investors, and tax officials.

He had written: "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 possession 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."

The massive shock to the industry and the country also led the government to assure that tax officials would not harass businessmen and the situation would improve.

Bengaluru, May 5: A 62-year-old woman from Vijayapura succumbed to coronavirus infection on Tuesday, taking the COVID-19 death toll in Karnataka to 28, a health official said.

The state has registered eight more COVID-19 cases in the past 19 hours, increasing the count of such cases to 659, the official added.

"Positive case 640, 62-year-old female resident of Vijayapura died on Tuesday due to cardiac arrest," the health official said.

Admitted to a designated hospital''s ICU on Sunday, the woman was also suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Bronchial Asthma (BA) and complained of breathlessness.

Among the eight fresh cases that emerged in the state, four were contacts of earlier cases, two with Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and one with travel history to Uttarakhand.

The health department is also tracing the contact history of a 30-year-old woman from Bengaluru Urban.

Incidentally, no new cases emerged from Davangere as 22 cases rocked the district on Monday.

Among the new cases, Bengaluru Urban contributed 3, followed by Bagalkote, 2, Ballari, Dakshina Kannada and Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada, 1 each.

Of the new cases, six are men and two women.

Mangaluru, Apr 12: A 70-year-old woman who tested positive for COVID-19 got discharged from a hospital here on Sunday after she recovered from the novel coronavirus, said Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner, Sindu B Rupesh.

Seven other patients have also recovered and discharged in Dakshina Kannada till date. Total number of active cases in the district has decreased to 5 now.

As many as 232 COVID-19 positive cases have been reported in Karnataka till date.

The total number of coronavirus cases in India on Sunday climbed to 8447, including 764 cured and discharged, 1 migrated and 273 deaths, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.