Non-Bailable Warrant Against Cafe Coffee Day Directors In Cheque Bounce Case

A non-bailable warrant has been issued in a cheque bounce case against the directors of the Coffee Day Global Ltd., which manages the famed Cafe Coffee Day chain.

One of the directors is former Chief Minister SM Krishna's daughter Malavika Hegde, also the wife of late VG Siddhartha, the company founder who died due to drowning in Nethravathi river in 2019 in Dakshina Kannada district.

The Civil Judge and the JMFC of Mudigere in Chikkamagaluru summoned them to appear before the court following a complaint by a coffee planter K Nandish.

Nandish has stated that CDGL had purchased green coffee seeds from him and in return, the company issued him 10 post-dated cheques drawn on Canara Bank and totalling Rs 45,38,554.

When he deposited them in his Axis Bank account, the cheques were dishonoured due to insufficient funds, according to the complaint.

"The first date of appearance was Oct. 6. Since they failed to appear before the magistrate on the said date in spite of serving of the summons, the court has issued a non-bailable warrant," Nandish's lawyer, Halekote A Thejawi told PTI.

He added that the matter has been posted to Nov. 11 and they have to appear before the court and get the warrant recalled.

Talking to reporters on Wednesday, Nandish said he had been supplying coffee seeds to Siddhartha's company ABC for many years.

When Siddhartha was alive, he used to issue post-dated cheques with an interest of 10 to 12%, Nandish said.

"Due to death, all our payments were held up but later the people in the organisation assured us that they will honour their cheques and our money will not go anywhere," he said.

They said they would completely clear the dues by November, he alleged.

In this regard, a Coffee Day spokesperson said "We had outstanding payments to 1,020 coffee planters of Chikkamagaluru and Hassan one year back. We have fully paid back 700 plus planters in the last 11 months."

"We have also made part payments to the remaining planters. The group's fund raising plans were hampered by the Covid-19 pandemic and hence the delay in completing the payments.”

But we remain committed to meeting all our obligations, he added.