Billionaire Pankaj Oswal ‘feeling guilty’, locked himself in ‘secret location’

Indian-origin billionaire Pankaj Oswal feels “immensely guilty” for sending his elder daughter Vasundhara to Uganda, his younger daughter Riddhi Oswal said. She added that he is devoting all his time to fighting for her release.  
Vasundhara has been imprisoned in Uganda for more than three weeks now.
In an email interview with HT.com, Riddhi said, the businessman and his wife, Radhika Oswal, have locked themselves in a “secret location” as they work to secure Vasundhara’s release.
She also shared that her parent’s guilt is compounded by their helplessness over not being able to travel to the African nation themselves.
“My parents’ hands are tied because they can’t even go to Uganda without facing immediate arrest by the highly corrupt officials there,” she told HT.com.
Riddhi also shared that the family has learnt that the police in Uganda have too much power and can arrest people on a whim, “even without warrants or proper court procedures”.
She further explained that if her parents get arrested too, they won’t 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 from the outside world and are only talking to people who can help her sister.
The younger Oswal sister is now charge of all family and business matters as her parents devote their attention to securing Vasundhara’s release.
Riddhi shared that her parents, who were in London when they first got to know about Vasundhara’s arrest, feel “immensely guilty” and have essentially locked themselves in a secret location, “devoting all their time to fighting for my sister’s release”.
“They barely eat more than one meal a day and are surviving on the hope and faith that they can get their daughter free,” she said.
Riddhi said her parents feel immense guilt because “they pushed her to go to Africa to manage the factory and oversee its setup”.
“They always taught us that both sexes are equal and encouraged my sister to work on greenfield projects and more challenging assignments, rather than giving her something ‘easier’ or ‘fancier’ just because she’s a woman. Now, they feel responsible for her situation,” she told HT.com.
26-year-old Vasundhara Oswal was ‘seized by around 20 armed men’ on October 1 from an extra-neutral alcohol plant set up by the family.
Local officials have linked her detention in a Ugandan jail to on ongoing missing person investigation — allegations that her family insists are wholly untrue.
An urgent appeal was filed with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention earlier this week.