Pankaj’s daughter, Vasundhara Oswal, is the executive director of PRO Industries.
Swiss industrialist Pankaj Oswal has claimed that his 26-year-old daughter has been illegally detained in Uganda without trial since October 1 due to “corporate and political manipulation”. The renowned industrialist has filed an appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), stating that his daughter was interrogated under degrading conditions and held for over 90 hours without access to legal counsel or family. He alleged that she was detained despite a court order for her unconditional release.
Pankaj’s daughter, Vasundhara Oswal, is the executive director of PRO Industries.
The Swiss industrialist claimed that she has been fabricated under false charges by a former employee, who had taken a loan of $200,000 with Oswal’s family as guarantors. He claimed that false accusations were levelled against them after they refused to repay the loan. He claimed that Vasundhara was unjustly accused of kidnapping and attempted murder. He claimed that the illegal detention was causing her to have an anxiety attack.
Pankaj has filed an urgent appeal with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, seeking international intervention in the matter.
“Not letting her be in touch with her family and lawyers and also snatching her phone from her, causing her to have an anxiety attack, which they did not acknowledge. This all while she is still being unlawfully detained with no evidence against her,” the family said in a post on Vasundhara’s Instagram account.
Pankaj has also written an open letter to the President of Uganda, appealing for his intervention. He has also engaged renowned human rights lawyer Cherie Blair CBE, KC, whose office stated that Vasundhara’s treatment constitutes a breach of both domestic and international laws.
“This is every mother’s nightmare. My young daughter has been thrown into a foreign jail. She has been stripped of her basic human rights and her dignity. Vasundhara is an innocent bystander. All I want is her safety, and for her to be back in my arms,” Vasundhara’s mother, Radhika Oswal, was quoted as saying by EU reporter.
Pankaj Oswal – the son of industrialist Abhay Kumar Oswal, the founder of Oswal Agro Mills and Oswal Greentech – has been living in Switzerland with his wife and daughter for the past 10 years with their two daughters Vasundhara and Ridi after they shifted from Australia.