In an unexpected move earlier today morning, the Income-tax department raided the headquarters of Cafe Coffee Day, the leading chain of coffee shops in the country. At the time of writing this email, the searches were underway on at least a dozen places related to Cafe Coffee Day and the premises of VG Siddhartha, the promoter of India’s biggest coffee company.
VG Siddhartha is the son-in-law of former Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna. SM Krishna was known to be a popular Congress leader in the state, however, he switched to BJP last year.
Cafe Coffee Day sources the coffee beans from its estates in Chikmagalur and according to the sources, IT department is also raiding the records of all the estates owned by the company, its owner and his family members.
Along with being one of the largest exporters of coffee beans from the country, Siddhartha is also an investor with investments in various software firms including MindTree.