The city thus remains witness to Sunanda’s rise as a self made businesswoman with huge entrepreneurial acumen and is sadly linked to her unexplained death as well.
A failed Mammootty show organized by Sunanda Pushkar in early 90’s in Dubai along with her husband Sujith Menon incurring a loss of more than Rs 22 lakhs, skilled her to make a fortune of almost 100 crore, next time she would come to the same city, almost a decade later.
Sunanda, as per the official affidavit submitted by her last husband and former union minister Shashi Tharoor, owned 12 properties in Dubai worth around Rs 93 crores, at the time she was found dead in a hotel room in Delhi in January 2014. And she acquired all this wealth in Dubai in six years, between 2004 and 2010, the year she got married to Tharoor.
The city thus remains witness to Sunanda’s rise as a self made businesswoman with huge entrepreneurial acumen and is sadly linked to her unexplained death as well.
A year after Sunanda’s tragic death Zee Media visited Dubai, in an attempt to know more about her life in this cosmopolitan city, where she spent almost two decades in two phases--1989 to 1998 and 2004--2014. Her friend circle and social circuit in Dubai ‘refuse to accept that she could ever commit suicide.’
However, most of them have maintained‘cautionary silence’after Delhi police registered a murder case in January this year and is investigating the matter. Dubai, known as the new investment destination of 21st century, is also an alleged infamous melting point of high profile security and Intelligence agencies--especially from India and Pakistan, influential corporate fraudsters and betting masterminds. Delhi police is also investigating the money trail of Sunanda’s investments during IPL in 2010, which may lead them to Dubai.
Sunanda’s rise in Dubai coincides with the real estate boom in the city after 2002. She took its best advantage, when she arrived in Dubai second time in 2004 on Canadian passport, where she lived for more than five years between--1999-2004.
“She along with her husband lost almost around 3 lakh UAE dirhams in Mammootty show, in early 90’s. It was a huge amount. It was not her fault. Somebody had printed fake tickets. Even though the hall was full that day, no revenue could be generated by the organizers,” a friend of Sunanda settled in Dubai, who also lost more than Rs 10 lakhs in that show, told Zee Media. He met Zee Media in his posh office in Business Bay of Dubai, but requested anonymity.“She was a generous lady, but this financial loss shattered her hugely and even strained her personal relationships,” he adds. However, after many hiccups in personal and professional life, Sunanda finally left Dubai and returned many years later in 2004.
“She moved in a different circle of friends now. It seems she wanted to make it big this time and never repeat any of her past mistakes,”said another close friend of Sunanda, who met Zee Media at a Mall in Dubai, but refused to be identified. She worked for Best Homes initially and later shifted as sales manager in TECOM to work for an International Media Production Free Zone. “This is when she was majorly introduced to the realty sector and she started cracking big deals,” he added.
A famous tale in local Dubai journalist fraternity is that a security guard at Burj Al Khalifa, who helped an investor to identify and buy a property, earned a brokerage of One million UED during the property boom in 2006. “Now Sunanda was at the right place at the right time,” added her another friend, who lives in Dubai since early 80’s.“However we can’t even think she would kill herself. She was a courageous woman who lived life on her own terms.”
As per her interviews to different media outlets, she owns two 3-bedroom apartments in Jumeirah Palm, an artificial archipelago, extending into the Persian Gulf in Dubai, where she shared the address with celebrities including David Bekham, Robert De Niro and Shahrukh Khan. This property of Sunanda would be costliest among all her properties. An average villa in Palm Jumeirah would cost around Rs 25 crores while an average apartment would be around Rs six crore.
Similarly, a beachside apartment in Jumeirah Beach Residence, located against the Persian Gulf is her another property in Dubai. A local property agent told Zee Media, that even the annual rental income from the property would be several lakh dirhams. The high-rise towers of JBR against Persian Gulf resemble Manhattan on the Hudson river in New York. Dubai police patrols this area in Buggati Veyron or Lamborghini cars. An average apartment would cost around Rs six crore.
Sunanda has two apartments in Executive Towers, which is a cluster of ten residential and two commercial towers located in Business Bay area. This tower cluster is five-minute walk from the metro station and a clear view of Burj Al Khalifa—the tallest building in the world—is visible from almost all the towers of cluster.According to her friends Sunanda lived in a second floor, 3-bedroom apartment, opposite Emirates Financial Towers. But at least five of her friends, Zee Media approached in Dubai, claimed that they had no idea about her properties in the city.
“I have been to her house a couple of times. She lived modestly,” said another friend, who knows both Sunanda and Tharoor. “But I have no idea about her properties. I must tell you one thing that she cannot take her own life. I cannot believe that,” he added.
Some of the Sunanda’s acquaintances and insiders of Dubai real estate circuit also claimed that she had close friends in powerful Sindhi community of Dubai. And she owns a flat in Al-Karama area in Dubai, where Sindhi community has big trading enterprises and shops. Besides, after getting married to Tharoor, she also got in touch with the powerful Malyalis who have made it big in Dubai.
Interestingly, Tharoor met Sunanda at a function of one of the most powerful Keralite NRIs, Sunny Varkey, who was awarded Padam Shri by Government of India in 2009. When contacted in Dubai, Varkey assured of giving an appointment, but neither received the call nor replied to email after the first conversation over phone. “Sunanda may have lived a boastful life but she was equally mysterious. She could never take her life. Her death just added another chapter to that mystery,” said a friend of Sunanda, who was very close to her before she married Tharoor.
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