Vasundhara Oswal: A billionaire's daughter rots in Ugandan jail
Hers is a story yet to be written—as if waiting for its many co-authors to come to an agreement about how to proceed.
Midway to a presumed denouement, Vasundhara Oswal (26) is lost to her billionaire Indian-origin Swiss industrialist father Pankaj and mother Radhika. In a Ugandan dungeon, that is.
Her younger sister Riddhi has taken to Instagram, posting pictures of Vasundhara sitting in a room full of shoes and a prison toilet “with blood and faeces on the floor.” The post has a sound clip where Vasundhara is heard complaining of an anxiety attack and pleading for a doctor. Riddhi has called out the Ugandan authorities for not only illegally keeping her sister in captivity, but also denying her bail.
Pankaj Oswal has made fervent appeals to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and written an open letter to the Ugandan President, while mother Radhika has appealed for the safe release of her daughter, whom she thinks is just an “innocent bystander.”
A Ugandan prison is certainly not the usual habitat for this photogenic, flamboyant young businesswoman, daughter of a family that owns a $200 million luxury villa in Switzerland, considered one of the world’s top 10 expensive houses. She, along with her sister, has appeared on the cover of many lifestyle magazines. Her spoken words have been against patriarchy, racism and bullying. Nothing in that Instagram-worthy picture of opulence, splendour and chutzpah would prepare you for how, on October 1, her world came crashing down.
But what has Vasundhara—a director in Guinea-based Axis Minerals, which is the largest bauxite mining company operating in Uganda—done? Depends on who you ask, there are allegations of kidnapping and extortion flying around from either side.
According to Pankaj, owner of the conglomerate Oswal Group Global, Vasundhara was arrested by Ugandan law enforcement agencies while on a visit to an extra-neutral alcohol plant being set up by her father’s PRO Industries at a $100 million investment. The arrest was made on charges of abducting a former employee of the Oswal family, Mukesh Kumar Menaria. On October 9, Vasundhara and her lawyer, Rita Ngabire, were formally arrested and sent to Nakasongola prison.
The Oswals accuse the Ugandan police of “extorting thousands of dollars” from them for the “rightful bail she deserves.” The Ugandan police have denied these allegations, asking the billionaire family to show proof and name the officers they bribed. The police also rubbished claims of mistreatment, arguing that cleaning duties in jail did not violate Vasundhara’s rights.
At the heart of this controversy is chef Menaria, who has worked at the Oswals for seven years. The family has accused Menaria of stealing valuables from them and naming them as the guarantor for a $200,000 loan he took. It has been alleged that the Oswals forcibly took him to Uganda. Menaria has now been arrested by the Ugandan police after Pankaj’s letter to their president.
Vasundahra’s younger sister has posted on Instagram that the man she was accused of kidnapping and murdering was already found in Tanzania, in state custody. The family has also hinted at corporate rivalry behind the “false accusation” and subsequent arrest of Vasundhara.
However, the Oswals have been no stranger to controversies.
They have been accused of tax evasion and siphoning funds from Burrup Fertilisers, a company they set up in Australia, once their adopted home land, forcing them to shift their base to Switzerland. A 16-bedroom mansion they bought in Perth was ordered to be demolished by Australian authorities. Pankaj is also engaged in a legal battle with his mother and siblings over his father’s property in India.
The Oswals have been putting up a brave face amid all these controversies, even blaming the western media of racial biases while covering a successful Indian industrialist. They usually don’t complain about the attention, though; they are known to be ostentatious with their wealth and success.
When they bought their Swiss villa off a Greek businesswoman, they transformed it by incorporating Vaastu and Indian interiors. Sharing pictures on Instagram, Vasundhara said in a May 2023 post that it was her family’s dream to create a little India away from India.
A graduate from a business school in Switzerland and also the executive director of PRO Industries, her present desire would only be to be able to shift homes fast.