Bengaluru: The board of directors of Cafe Coffee Day met on Wednesday (July 31) after the demise of the brand’s chairman and managing director VG Siddhartha. SV Ranganath, independent executive director has informed that he will be taking over as the interim chairman of the board. The board has also decided to appoint Nitin Bagmane as an interim chief operating officer of the company.

A constitution of an executive committee comprising SV Ranganath, Nitin Bagmane and R Ram Mohan will exercise the powers previously vested with the chief executive officer of the company and the administrative committee constituted by the board in 2015.

Malavika Hegde, wife of the deceased, is expected to remain the non-independent and non-executive director as there has been no mention of any designation change in the document shared after the board meeting.

Meanwhile, the coffee chain’s main outlet in Bengaluru, ‘The Square’ located in Vittal Mallya Road, Bengaluru remains shut today. The staff has been taken to Chikkamagaluru, where the final rites of the business tycoon will take place today (July 31). Police force has been installed at the spot. The family members including former chief minister of Karnataka and BJP veteran SM Krishna and daughter Malavika have left their residence in Bengaluru to attend the funeral in Chikkamagaluru.

Way2Wealth, a Cafe Coffee Day venture which is located next to ‘The Square’ has also been shut for the day with just a few employees remaining in office. The company is a share/stock broking house.

While the main outlet remains shut, the other CCD outlets stay open as usual. While speaking to MyNation, one of the employees spoke about how nice a person he was and how he used to visit the outlet often.

VG Siddhartha's body washed ashore near Ullal, and was fished out by local fisherman on Wednesday (July 31) morning. The body is being taken to Chikkamagaluru from Wenlock District Hospital in Mangaluru and is expected to reach there by 4:30pm today.