BENGALURU: Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murthy, in their personal capacity, sent a message condoling the death of John Shaw, husband of Biocon Executive Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, that was read out by Sunak's brother-in-law, Rohan Murthy in Bengaluru on Sunday evening.
Captains of the industry, including Infosys chief mentor NR Narayana Murthy, were present at the prayer meeting organised by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw in memory of John Shaw, who passed away five days ago.
At the meet, Sudha Murty recalled that it was John Shaw who did the aarthi at the wedding of her daughter Akshata Murty and Rishi Sunak. Rohan said boisterous Punjabis were prevailing during the Sangeet before the wedding until the ebullient John Shaw joined in.
Narayana Hrudayalaya CEO Dr Devi Prasad Shetty said it was because of Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw that John Shaw escaped a close shave with death 15 years ago.
UIDAI former chairman Nandan Nilekani recalled his close friendship with John Shaw and mentioned that they had become closer during the Covid pandemic and they had also formed a group of five couples and had named themselves the Black Panthers.
Former Union external affairs minister and former chief minister SM Krishna, Higher Education Minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan and others were present.
Biocon, on its website, stated, "John Shaw contributed majorly to the transformation of Biocon from a small enzymes company to a globally recognised biopharmaceutical company and had played an important role in ensuring the highest levels of corporate governance in the Company, as well as, in the financial and strategic development of the group."
He was a foreign promoter and was on the board of various Biocon Group companies. He was also the former chairman of Madura Coats and former finance and managing director of Coats, Viyella Group.