Billionaire Pankaj Oswal ‘feeling guilty’ locked himself in ‘secret place’: ‘Devoting all his time…’

Indian-born billionaire Pankaj Oswal feels “immensely guilty” for sending his eldest daughter Vasundhara to Uganda, his younger daughter Riddhi Oswal has said. She added that he devotes all his time to fighting for her release.

Vasundhara has been in custody in Uganda for more than three weeks.

In an email interview with HT.com, Riddhi said that the businessman and his wife Radhika Oswal had locked themselves in a “secret place” in an attempt to secure Vasundhara’s release.

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

“My parents’ hands are tied because they can’t even travel to Uganda without fear of immediate arrest by the extremely corrupt officials there,” she told HT.com.

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

She went on to explain that if her parents were also arrested, they would not 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 only communicate with people who can help her sister.

Younger sister Oswal is now in charge of all family and business matters as her parents devote all their attention to securing Vasundhara’s release.

“Devoting all their time to fighting for my sister’s release.”

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

“They barely eat more than once a day and survive on hope and faith that they can free their daughter,” she said.

Riddhi said her parents feel enormous guilt because “they forced her to go to Africa to manage the factory and supervise its installation.”

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

Where is Vasundhara Oswal?

Vasundhara Oswal, 26, was “captured by about 20 armed men” on October 1 from a distillery run by his family.

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

Earlier this week, a request for urgent action was submitted to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.