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Ness Wadia and Mohit Burman beaten up in South Africa IN 2009
Ness Wadia, the Bombay Dyeing Scion and son of tycoon Nusli Wadia and Mohit Burman, Scion of the Burman family who run Dabur were reportedly beaten up by the police in South Africa and the security staff of South African industrialist Ajay Gupta according to a news report in The Times of India newspaper.
Apparently a drunken Mohit Burman tangled with a lady spectator. The report says that Mohit was repeatedly butting the lady with a flagpole of a Punjab XI pennant. The butting grew more obscene gradually. While a lesser mortal may have been forced to ignore it or sit away, the lady being harassed turned out to be the daughter-in-law of Ajay Gupta. Gupta is known to be a powerful industrialist in South Africa controlling the Sahara group and in the same league as the Wadias in India. He is also close to the South African President Jacob Zuma. She called her guards and the police who arrived and began thrashing Mohit Burman. Ness Wadia took up for his friend and was also beaten up as a result. When Ajay Gupta heard of it, he threatened to file a formal complaint with the police and have both Ness Wadia and Mohit Burman deported from South Africa for misconduct. Lalit Modi, the chairman of IPL who knows Ajay Gupta well intervened and talked Gupta out of doing any such thing, apparently worried that the scandal would make front page news internationally. Lalit Modi also filled Arun Gupta in on the background of both Ness Wadia and Mohit Burman and said that they were not known to behave improperly.
Ness Wadia is the son of Nusli Wadia, one of India's biggest industrialists and land-owners. Their flagship company is Bombay Dyeing. Incidently, Ness Wadia has been in the news over the last couple of years partly because he was dating actor Preity Zinta. Last month Preity Zinta indicated in a letter to the players of Kings XI Punjab that her relationship with Ness Wadia was purely professional. This confirmed weeks of speculation that she and Ness Wadia were no longer a couple.
Lalit Modi eventually set up a meeting between Ajay Gupta and the two - Ness Wadia and Mohit Burman at the residence of Ajay Gupta. The two men are reported to have apologised in writing to Ajay Gupta. The media officer for Johannesburg police superintendent Eugene Opperman has confirmed the incident and said the IPL was looking into it. The Times of India also refers to the fact that Ness Wadia did not attend the IPL match on Monday and attributes it to the many injuries suffered by him. Mohit Burman was seen in the hotel foyer with a black eye. He too confirmed the fight and that he and Ness Wadia were beaten up. Mohit said he was heading for Durban where the next match of Kings XI Punjab is slated to be held. Mohit Burman however claimed that it wasn't a drunken brawl. He said that he and Ness Wadia wanted the lady spectator to support the Kings XI Punjab teamby waving the flag. She refused to do so saying that she wasn't a Punjab supporter. This lead to a misunderstanding and the security guys of Gupta started hitting them. The police stopped them according to Mohit Burman. After this he and Ness Wadia went to the residence of Arun Gupta, had coffee, hugged and made up.
