Indian-origin Swiss industrialist Pankaj Oswal has filed an appeal with the United Nations over his daughter Vasundhara Oswal’s alleged unlawful detention in Uganda since October 1. She was reportedly seized by 20 armed men from the family’s extra-neutral alcohol plant. Local officials linked her detention to an investigation into the kidnapping and murder of a man.
Denying the allegations as false, Pankaj has claimed that a former employee took a loan of $200,000 from the family. He claimed that the employee refused to repay the loan and instead filed false allegations against Vasundhara in an attempt to escape their financial obligations.
Who Is Vasundhara?
Her family in a statement said Vasundhara, aged 26, is a key figure in East Africa’s ethanol production industry. “She also demonstrated strong leadership in the global expansion of the Oswal Group, particularly in East Africa amongst her business achievements she has won many awards including Global Youth Icon Award for 2023 and being named Woman of the Year by the Economic Times,” the statement read.
She also founded PRO Industries during her second year of graduation and is currently the firm’s Executive Director, according to the company’s website.
Her brother in a social media post said she was detained because of corporate jealousy from a 68-year-old man. He said the man “couldn’t take that she, a young 26-year-old woman, became bigger than him in three years of her hard dedicated work, and wanted his competition to go down no matter what”.
Vasundhara’s brother added that she’s not even able to hurt a fly, she feeds birds every morning and is a vegetarian. “She used to meditate every day and never had a boyfriend. Now she’s been pinned with something she never did,” he wrote in the post.
Her sister said the worst part is that the man she has been accused of kidnapping and murdering was already found in Tanzania in state custody and awaits his own investigations there. “When Tanzanian authorities apprehended him, he was found with his passport, clearly indicating that he was not kidnapped. And definitely isn’t murdered,” she wrote.
