Inside world's wackiest £15million mansion left abandoned on 400ft skyscraper – and why the owner never moved in
THE fate of an abandoned £15million mansion perched on a 400ft skyscraper hangs in balance after the 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.
9
9
9
9
Businessman 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 £1billion.
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 40,000sqft on two levels, the wacky mansion sticks out like a sore thumb on the gargantuan tower.
For its ultra-rich owner - if it ever gets one - there's a helipad, infinity pool and an open deck that offers a 360-degree viewing platform of the city.
And 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 4.5 acres of land where the father-in-law of former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Narayan Murthy, reportedly bought a flat last year.
The mansion was one of the first residential penthouses in the country built at such a height.
Chairman of Prestige Group Irfan Razack previously said constructing the gargantuan mansion was a challenge as it was mounted on cantilever - a structure only supported at one end.
He said to local media: "It's a complex structure. It was a challenge to construct the mansion on a huge cantilever at that height."
Dubai hotel with world's largest waterpark
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 hired to work on the interiors of the mansion, revealed to The Sun that 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, 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 now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines - but he failed to make the payment.
9
9
9
9
The tycoon later declared himself bankrupt in the UK.
Indian banks have since been seeking to recover the outstanding loan amount through various legal mean - including the sale of his assets.
Several of his properties have been seized by the Enforcement Directorate, otherwise known as the financial crimes police.
And 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."
Mallya's former lawyer EC Agrawala said that the fate of the property can only be decided by the Indian government.
He said: "The mansion was under construction.
"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."
Who is Vijay Mallya?
By Annabel Bate, Foreign News Reporter
VIJAY Mallya, 69, is a former businessman and politician who is the subject of an extradition effort by the Indian Government to return him from the UK.
Officials want him to face charges of financial crimes in India.
Mallya was the founder and former owner of defunct Kingfisher Airlines, as well as former co-owner of the Force India Formula One team - but it went into administration.
The tycoon fled India in 2016 after defrauding at least 17 banks of nearly £1billion.
Mallya he also faced legal action over money laundering alongside alleged fraud charges.
He had taken a loan from a syndicate of banks for the operations of his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines - but he failed to make the payment.
The tycoon later declared himself bankrupt in the UK.
Indian banks have since been seeking to recover the outstanding loan amount through various legal mean - including the sale of his assets.
Several of his properties have been seized by the Enforcement Directorate, otherwise known as the financial crimes police.
9
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
The 'insane' move buyers are now pulling before signing home contracts... but it them a better deal!
Millions of Americans live in communities governed by a homeowners association (HOA), and the number has only increased in recent years. But many buyers don't known much about the HOA they're joining, and the boards typically like to keep it that way.
BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
Superbugs thrive as access to antibiotics fails in India
It's a grim paradox, doctors the one hand, antibiotics are being overused until they no longer work, driving resistance and fuelling the rise of deadly superbugs. On the other hand, people are dying because they can't access these life-saving drugs.A new study by the non-profit Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) looked at access to antibiotics for nearly 1.5 million cases of carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative (CRGN) infections across eight major low- and middle-income countries, including India, Brazil and South Africa. CRGN bacteria are superbugs resistant to last-line antibiotics - yet only 6.9% of patients received appropriate treatment in the countries bore the lion's share of CRGN infections and treatment efforts, procuring 80% of the full courses of studied antibiotics but managing to treat only 7.8% of its estimated cases, the study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal reports. (A full drug course of antibiotics refers to the complete set of doses that a patient needs to take over a specific period to fully treat an infection.) Common in water, food, the environment and the human gut, Gram-negative bacteria cause infections such as urinary tract infections (UTIs), pneumonia and food poisoning. They can pose a serious threat to newborns and the elderly alike. Especially vulnerable are hospital patients with weakened immunity, often spreading rapidly in ICUs and proving difficult - and sometimes impossible - to treat. Treating carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacterial infections is doubly difficult because those bacteria are resistant to some of the most powerful antibiotics."These infections are a daily reality across all age groups," says Dr Abdul Gaffar, infectious disease consultant at Apollo Hospital in India's Chennai city. "We often see patients for whom no antibiotic works - and they die."The irony is cruel. While the world tries to curb antibiotic overuse, a parallel tragedy plays out quietly in poorer nations: people dying from treatable infections because the right drugs are out of reach. "For years, the dominant narrative has been that antibiotics are being overused, but the stark reality is that many people with highly drug-resistant infections in low- and middle-income countries are not getting access to the antibiotics they need," says Dr Jennifer Cohn, GARDP's Global Access Director and senior author of the 'blockbuster' drugs to take on deadly superbugsIndia facing a pandemic of antibiotics-resistant superbugsThe study examined eight intravenous drugs active against carbapenem-resistant bacteria - ranging from older antibiotics including Colistin to newer ones such as Ceftazidime-avibactam. Of the few available drugs, Tigecycline was the most widely used. Researchers blame the treatment gap on weak health systems and limited access to effective antibiotics. For example, only 103,647 full treatment courses were procured of Tigecycline across eight countries - far short of the 1.5 million patients who needed them, the study found. This highlighted a major shortfall in the global response to drug-resistant infections. What prevents patients with drug-resistant infections in India from getting the right antibiotics? Physicians point to multiple barriers - reaching the right health facility, getting accurate diagnostic tests, and accessing effective drugs. Cost remains a major hurdle, with many of these antibiotics priced far beyond the reach of poorer patients. "Those who can afford these antibiotics often overuse them; those who can't, don't get them at all," says Dr Gaffar. "We need a system that ensures access for the poor and prevents misuse by the well-to-do."To improve access, these drugs must be made more affordable. To prevent misuse, stronger regulation is key. "Ideally, every antibiotic prescription in hospitals should require a second sign-off - by an infection specialist or microbiologist," says Dr Gaffar. "Some hospitals do this, but most don't. With the right oversight, regulators can ensure this becomes standard practice."To fix the access problem and curb misuse, both smarter policies and stronger safeguards are essential, say researchers. But access alone won't solve the crisis - the pipeline of new antibiotics is drying up. The decline in antibiotic R&D - and the limited availability of existing drugs - is a global bears one of the world's heaviest burdens of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), but it may also hold the key to combating it - both at home and globally, researchers say."India is also one of the largest markets for new antibiotics and can successfully advocate for the development and access of new antibiotics," says Dr Cohn. With a strong pharmaceutical base, the country is emerging as a hub for AMR innovation, from promising new antibiotics to advanced Cohn says India can strengthen its antibiotic response by generating local data to better estimate needs and pinpoint gaps in the care pathway. This would allow for more targeted interventions to improve access to the right drugs. Innovative models are already emerging - Kerala state, for instance, is using a "hub-and-spoke approach" to support lower-level facilities in managing serious infections. Coordinated or pooled procurement across hospitals or states could also reduce the cost of newer antibiotics, as seen with cancer drug programs, researchers access to the right antibiotics, modern medicine begins to unravel - doctors risk losing the ability to safely perform surgery, treat complications in cancer patients, or manage everyday infections. "As an infectious disease doctor, I see appropriate use as one part - but only one part - of access," says Dr Gaffar. "When we get new antibiotics, it's important to save them on one hand - and save them for right patients." Clearly, the challenge is not just to use antibiotics wisely, but to ensure they reach those who need them most.
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Aussie house prices soar in every major city as reason behind surge emerges
Home values have set a record as falling interest rates send buyers piling back into the property market. The median dwelling in Australia was worth $831,288 in May - a 0.5 per cent jump on the month before - data released by property analytics firm Cotality, formerly CoreLogic, on Monday showed. Every capital city, as well as the combined regions, exhibited growth of 0.4 per cent or more, in a broad-based recovery largely down to buyers feeling better about their purchasing capacity. 'Undoubtedly, interest rates have had a positive flow through to housing markets since February,' said Cotality research director Tim Lawless. 'But I certainly wouldn't call the rate of growth shooting the lights out. A 0.4 per cent to 0.5 per cent growth rate is much more sustainable than what we were seeing, say, in early 2023 up to mid-2024.' After a shallow and short-lived downturn at the end of 2024, the recovery in prices had more to do with sentiment than a genuine improvement in serviceability or access to credit, considering interest rates were still in restrictive territory, Mr Lawless said. 'And we know from historical correlations, consumer confidence and housing activity tend to go hand-in-hand.' Changes in property values have converged across markets after record divergences in price growth in 2024. In August, there was a 26.1-percentage point difference between the annual growth rate in Perth (24.5 per cent) and Hobart (-1.6 per cent). Price rises have slowed in the Western Australian capital, but properties there still increased at 0.7 per cent in May, behind only Darwin, which grew at 1.6 per cent. While 2024's astronomical growth rate of 19 per cent was unlikely to be repeated, Perth's low price base, strong economy, high interstate migration numbers and low property listings would continue to lift values higher, Mr Lawless said. Nationally, rents grew at 0.4 per cent in May following three straight months of 0.6 per cent gains. On an annual basis, rental growth is clearly trending downwards, with the largest markets of Sydney and Melbourne the softest. Capital city vacancy rates remain below the long-term average at two per cent, boosting prices. Net overseas migration falling back to normal levels after the post-COVID spike and increasing household sizes were keeping a lid on demand. But slow progress on the supply side of the ledger doesn't look like improving soon. Dwelling approvals fell 5.7 per cent in April, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Friday, putting the national target of 1.2 million new homes over five years further out of reach. 'Rental affordability challenges are going to be with us for some time yet, given how tight rental conditions are,' Mr Lawless said. Following the Reserve Bank's decision to cut interest rates by 25 basis points at its May meeting, governor Michele Bullock said it was not the RBA's responsibility to address housing affordability through monetary policy. Governments, she said, held the levers to fix the imbalance of supply and demand. 'There's nothing the Reserve Bank can do about these affordability issues of housing,' she said. 'This is an issue of housing demand and housing supply, and increasingly this issue is finding its way into the governments, both state and federal governments, and that's where the focus has to be.'
