Inside $31m mansion abandoned on skyscraper after owner flees
The fate of an abandoned $31 million mansion perched on a 120 metre-tall skyscraper hangs in balance after its tycoon owner fled to the UK.
Details of what's inside the unbelievable White House replica have been revealed for the first time, but it remains unclear whether the sprawling home will have any residents.
Businessman and former Indian politician Vijay Mallya, 69, who lives in the UK, commissioned the Sky Mansion on the 34th and 35th Kingfisher Towers in Bengaluru, India in 2010.
But the tycoon could never live in his dream home after he fled the country in 2016 after defrauding at least 17 banks of nearly $2.1 billion.
Now, sources familiar with the case say the future of the mansion remains uncertain as lenders and agencies probing the fraud are still trying to recover cash from Mallya.
Sprawled over an unbelievable 3716 square metres on two levels, the unique mansion sticks out like a sore thumb on the gargantuan tower.
For its ultra-rich future owner — if it finds one — there's a helipad, infinity pool and an open deck that offers a 360-degree viewing platform of the city.
Despite the penthouse being part of the skyscraper, it's a private villa with two of its own elevators.
The Kingfisher Towers were built on 1.8 hectares of land where the father-in-law of former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Narayan Murthy, reportedly bought an apartment last year.
The mansion was one of the first residential penthouses in India built at such a height.
Prestige Group chairman Irfan Razack previously said constructing the gargantuan mansion was a challenge as it was mounted on cantilever — a structure only supported at one end.
'It's a complex structure,' he told local media. 'It was a challenge to construct the mansion on a huge cantilever at that height.'
It's unknown when the build was completed, but the exterior of the mansion appears to be fully finished.
But it's not clear if the White House replica is finished on the inside.
Interior firm Morph Design and Co, an arm of Prestige Group which was hired to work on the interiors of the mansion, revealed to The Sun the 'interiors of the mansion were not done'.
While the house is reportedly taken care of by the developers and regularly cleaned, the penthouse lies unoccupied due to legal tangles.
Prestige Constructions didn't respond to a request from The Sun on its fate.
Before the penthouse was finished, Mr Mallya fled the country after facing legal action over money laundering and alleged fraud charges.
He had taken a loan from a syndicate of banks for the operations of his defunct Kingfisher Airlines, but he failed to make the payment.
Mr Mallya is also the former co-owner of the Force India Formula One Team that went into administration.
The tycoon left India in 2016 and later declared himself bankrupt in the UK.
Indian banks have since been seeking to recover the outstanding loan amount through various legal means including the sale of his assets.
Several of his properties have been seized by the Enforcement Directorate, otherwise known as the financial crimes police. The mansion is likely part of the recovery procedure.
SS Naganand, the counsel who appeared for one of the banks, told The Sun, 'The tower was part of the entire recovery proceeding and all the assets belonging to him are part of the process, certainly that mansion.
'The building was constructed long before the litigation started.
'Prestige Group put up the structure and kept a portion of it, the rest of which came to [his] company and Mallya had built something for him on the top and belonged to him personally.
'From my understanding there were proceedings relating to that both in Indian courts and the UK courts.'
Mr Mallya's former lawyer EC Agrawala said that the fate of the property can only be decided by the Indian government.
'The mansion was under construction,' he said.
'The last three to four years, I have not followed it. It was seized by the Enforcement Directorate but not fully confiscated.
'It is still lying unoccupied and unsold as the government is yet to decide its fate.'
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