Dead CCD Founder Linked To Odisha’s ‘Landslide Coalmine’

Bhubaneswar: Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) founder VG Siddhartha, whose suicide has shocked the country, had business interests in Odisha as well.

Besides several CCD outlets in the state, one of Siddhartha’s listed companies ‘Sical Logistics’ is engaged in coal extraction and transportation at various sites of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL), according to a report in the New Indian Express.

One of these sites is MCL’s Bharatpur coal mines in Talcher, which was recently in the news after the death of four workers in a landslide. Nine other workers were also injured in the mishap on the night of July 23.

Sources claimed that the landslide night happened during quarrying activities by Sical Logistics.

MCL’s public relations officer Dikken Mehra admitted that Sical Logistics was the contractor for Bharatpur mine, but added he didn’t know that it was owned by the CCD Group.

According to sources, the multi-modal logistics company commanded a contract value of Rs 700 crore in Odisha. It is also associated with the operations at MCL’s Hingula open cast mines in Talcher.