'Gautam Singhania forced me to...': Nawaz Modi drops another bombshell amid family feud

Written By DNA Web Team | Updated: Nov 28, 2023, 09:33 AM IST

Raymond's chairman Gautam Singhania is renowned for his devotion to Lord Venkateswara, the deity of the Tirupati temple.

Amid the ongoing saga of accusations against Raymond's billionaire chairman Gautam Singhania, his estranged wife Nawaz Modi has now claimed that he forced her into trekking to the Tirumala Tirupati temple without food and water.

In an audio clip that recently surfaced, Nawaz Modi details Gautam Singhania's alleged insistence on the trek, linking it to a vow he had made during their marriage. She contends that Singhania, a devoted follower of Lord Venkateswara, demanded she climb the sacred hill in Andhra Pradesh's Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh with no food or water. 

"He made me walk all those steps. I don't know how many steps there are, but I walked all the way up to Tirupati without food, water, nothing... I nearly fainted two or three times. He didn't seem to care. He still made me walk up," she asserts in the audio clip.

Singhania is renowned for his devotion to Lord Venkateswara, the deity of the Tirupati temple. The businessman has been actively involved in philanthropy, contributing Rs 100 crore for the construction of a new temple in Mumbai and supporting educational institutions under the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, the temple board.

Meanwhile, Nawaz Modi remarked, "The reason he is such a big bhakt (devotee) of Lord Venkateswara and not of any other god is because that is the god of money."

Last week, in an interview with India Today, Nawaz Modi accused her estranged husband of allegedly assaulting her and their daughter Niharika Singhania on September 10, the day after Gautam Singhania's birthday.

It is to be noted that Gautam Singhania’s estranged wife Nawaz Modi has demanded 75% of the billionaire businessman’s USD 1.4 billion wealth as part of the settlement. Nawaz Modi’s demand directly affected Raymond's share price as the company’s stock fell 8% in the last five trading sessions.

Meanwhile, Gautam Singhania's father Vijaypat Singhania said Raymond’s name will "ultimately depend on how shareholders, bankers look at it".