CHIKKAMAGALURU: The Mudigere JMFC Court issued a non-bailable arrest warrant to eight people – including Malavika Hegde, wife of Cafe Coffee Day founder, the late VG Siddhartha Hegde and ABC company CEO – on charges of bounced cheques that were given to coffee planters on behalf of Coffee Day Global Limited.Warrants were issued to arrest Coffee Day Global Limited managing director and the company’s director Malavika Hegde, CEO Jayaraj C Hubballi, secretary Sadananda Poojary, company chief Nitin Bagmane, Kireeti Savanth and Javed Parvez .
For the past many years, planters of Hassan and Chikkamagaluru have been selling coffee to Coffee Day Global Limited, but after Siddarth’s demise, the company was in a financial crisis. It was then that coffee growers appealed to the company to clear their dues.
Meanwhile , the administrative board assured them that the dues will be settled in a phased manner, but they haven’t received the money even after one-and-a-half years.K Nandish, an employee at Shivaprakash Estate of Mallandur, filed a plaint alleging that his produce had been sold by ABC Company and that he received only Rs 4 lakh out of Rs 45 lakh not to mention the cheque issued by the company had bounced. He named Malavika Hegde and eight others in the company and held them responsible. Malavika is yet to be arrested, sources said.