Chikkamagaluru: A non-bailable warrant was, on Wednesday, issued by a magistrate court in Mudigere against the daughter of former union minister S M Krishna and a director of Cafe Coffee Day Global Ltd Malavika Hegde, and seven others, in connection with defaults in payments to coffee growers.
It can be recalled that a coffee cultivator named K Nandish approached the Joint Magistrate First Class with a plea to arrest the accused in June this year. He alledged that the cheques issued by Cafe Coffee Day to coffee cultivators twice, bounced on both occasions. The company, according to Nandish, purchased green beans from him in exchange for 10 post-dated cheques amounting to Rs 45,38,554.
Speaking to the media, Nandish informed that the court issued a non-bailable warrant against Malavika Hegde, who is also the wife wife of CCD founder late V G Siddhartha, and seven others, as the accused did not appear for questioning on October 6 according to the court summons.
The others accused in the case include the company as a respondent, the MD and CEO, and other functionaries like the CFO.
The accused will have to appear before the court on November 11, the date to which the matter has been posted, and get the warrant recalled.
According to reports, the payment of the cheques were held back after Siddhartha’s death, but the coffee growers were assured that the same would be honoured.
In a statement, a CCD spokesperson said, “We had outstanding payments to 1,020 coffee planters of Chickmagalur and Hassan one year back. We have fully paid back 700+ 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.”
