Billionaire Pankaj Oswal ‘felt guilty’, locked himself in ‘secret location’: ‘Devoted all their time to…’

Indian-origin billionaire Pankaj Oswal feels “immense guilt” for sending his eldest daughter Vasundhara to Uganda, his youngest daughter Riddhi Oswal said. She added that he spends all his time fighting for her release.

Vasundhara has now been imprisoned in Uganda for more than three weeks.

In an email interview with HT.com, Riddhi said the businessman and his wife, Radhika Oswal, have locked themselves in a “secret location” while they work for Vasundhara’s release.

She also said her parents’ guilt is compounded by their helplessness at not being able to travel to the African country themselves.

“My parents’ hands are tied because they cannot even go to Uganda without being immediately arrested by the highly corrupt officials there,” she told HT.com.

Riddhi also said the family has learned that police in Uganda have too much power and can arrest people on a whim, “even without arrest warrants or due legal process.”

She further explained that if her parents are also arrested, they will no longer be able to fight for her sister, “who has essentially been cut off from everything and is already being treated like a convicted criminal.”

Riddhi told HT.com that her parents, Pankaj and Radhika Oswal, have cut off communication with the outside world and are only talking to people who can help her sister.

The younger sister Oswal is now responsible for all family and business affairs, while her parents devote their attention to securing Vasundhara’s release.

‘Spending all their time fighting for my sister’s release’

Riddhi said her parents, who were in London when they first heard of Vasundhara’s arrest, feel “immensely guilty” and have essentially locked themselves in a secret location, “spending all their time fighting for the release of my sister”.

“They barely eat more than one meal a day and survive in the hope and belief that they can get their daughter out,” she said.

Riddhi said her parents feel immense guilt because “they pushed her to go to Africa to run the factory and oversee its setup.”

“They always taught us that both genders are equal and encouraged my sister to work on greenfield projects and more challenging assignments, rather than giving her something ‘easier’ or ‘more luxurious’ just because she is a woman. Now they feel responsible for her situation,” she told HT.com.

Where is Vasundhara Oswal?

Vasundhara Oswal, 26, was ‘seized by about twenty armed men’ on October 1 from an extra-neutral alcohol factory set up by the family.

Local officials have linked her detention in a Ugandan prison to an ongoing missing persons investigation – allegations her family insists are completely untrue.

Earlier this week, an urgent appeal was submitted to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.