Siddhartha's post mortem report rules out 'foul play', suggests he died due to respiratory blockage

Bengaluru, Aug 03: The Government Wenlock District Hospital on Friday submitted a preliminary report of the post-mortem conducted on the body of Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) founder and business tycoon V G Siddhartha, whose body was discovered on the banks of Netravathi river on Wednesday.

The report has said that his death occurred due to respiratory blockage caused by drowning. The report was submitted by Dr Rajeshwari Devi, superintendent of the district Wenlock Hospital here to city (south) assistant commissioner of police, Kodandarama, who happens to be the investigating officer of the case, on Friday August 2.

The confidentiality of the report has been maintained. It is learnt that no other reasons have been attributed to Siddhartha's death at this stage. However, the provisional report has not gone into detailed analysis about the death of Siddhartha.

The other details will be included in the final report that would be prepared from the forensic science laboratory at Davanagere.

The body of Siddhartha was handed over to his family members after conducting postmortem at Wenlock Hospital's mortuary on July 31. The postmortem was performed by Dr Pratheek Rustogi, forensic expert of KMC Hospital, and Dr Rashmi of forensic science department of Wenlock Hospital.

Viscera of the body had been sent to forensic laboratory at Davanagere for testing as suspicions and rumours about the suspicious circumstances under which Siddhartha died surfaced.

Mangaluru Police Commissioner Sandeep Patil, who proceeded to Bengaluru on transfer, on Friday, said details in the complaint (given by Siddhartha's driver) and evidence gathered by the police almost match, thereby indicating there was no foul play.