Cricket and Bollywood are India’s biggest passions, and businessman Ness Wadia has a connection with both. He is the co-owner of the Indian Premier League franchise Kings XI Punjab, and the ex-boyfriend of Bollywood star Preity Zinta, who remains his business partner in the cricket team.
This week, Wadia has been all over the news, after Zinta filed a police complaint accusing him of physically and verbally abusing her during an IPL match in Mumbai on May 30. Zinta claims Wadia had “misbehaved” and used derogatory language with her on earlier occasions as well. On the day of the match, he allegedly intimidated her by declaring that he was powerful and could make her disappear and holding her arm roughly.
The police have booked Wadia for intentional insult, criminal intimidation and assault with the intention to outrage the modesty of a woman, and are also considering charging him with stalking. Meanwhile, his father, Nusli Wadia, as well as two secretaries from the Wadia Group, have alleged that they received threatening calls from the underworld making references to Zinta.
While Wadia has dismissed Zinta’s accusations as “false and baseless”, many people have been left with a question: who exactly is Ness Wadia?
Ness Wadia, 44, descends from a very illustrious family. One of his great-grandfathers was Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Another was Ness Wadia senior, a shipping and textile magnate. The Wadias made their fortune as master shipbuilders for the British in 17th-century Mumbai, an association that earned them both money as well as land grants. His grandfather, Neville, served as the chairman of the Bombay Dyeing textile company until 1977, after which his father Nusli Wadia assumed the position.
His mother, Maureen Wadia, a former flight attendant, started the Gladrags fashion magazine and is president of the Gladrags beauty pageants. His brother, Jehangir, is the head of the GoAir airline.
Till 2011, Ness Wadia was the joint managing director of Bombay Dyeing. Since he stepped down, he has been co-owner of the Punjab IPL team and managing director of the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation. He is also on the board of directors of several companies, like Britannia Industries and Wadia BSN.
Wadia has degrees in international relations from Tufts University in the US and engineering management from the University of Warwick in England. He obtained his master’s degree in management in 1998, in the middle of his career, and finished in 2001.
He dated Preity Zinta for nearly five years from 2005, and has been linked to other glamorous women both before and after this relationship. They include actor Nargis Fakhri and Janine Jeejeebhoy, the daughter of a wealthy Parsi businessman.
In 2008, when he was still dating Zinta, Wadia decided to put some of his money in an IPL team, the Mohali-based Kings XI Punjab. He and Zinta own 23% stake each in the team, while industrialist Mohit Burman owns 46%. Karan Paul, the chairman of Apeejay-Surrendra Group, Colway Investment, and Root Investment have smaller stakes. Wadia and Zinta paid $76 million to acquire the franchise.
In 2010-'11, after three IPL seasons, the team saw cumulative losses of Rs 68 crore. In 2012-'13, however, the company claimed to have recorded a profit of Rs 78 lakh before tax. In 2010, the Registrar of Companies in Chandigarh had filed a criminal complaint against Ness Wadia, Zinta and Burman for failing to share the balance sheets of their franchise with the registrar.
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This week, Wadia has been all over the news, after Zinta filed a police complaint accusing him of physically and verbally abusing her during an IPL match in Mumbai on May 30. Zinta claims Wadia had “misbehaved” and used derogatory language with her on earlier occasions as well. On the day of the match, he allegedly intimidated her by declaring that he was powerful and could make her disappear and holding her arm roughly.
The police have booked Wadia for intentional insult, criminal intimidation and assault with the intention to outrage the modesty of a woman, and are also considering charging him with stalking. Meanwhile, his father, Nusli Wadia, as well as two secretaries from the Wadia Group, have alleged that they received threatening calls from the underworld making references to Zinta.
While Wadia has dismissed Zinta’s accusations as “false and baseless”, many people have been left with a question: who exactly is Ness Wadia?
Ness Wadia, 44, descends from a very illustrious family. One of his great-grandfathers was Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Another was Ness Wadia senior, a shipping and textile magnate. The Wadias made their fortune as master shipbuilders for the British in 17th-century Mumbai, an association that earned them both money as well as land grants. His grandfather, Neville, served as the chairman of the Bombay Dyeing textile company until 1977, after which his father Nusli Wadia assumed the position.
His mother, Maureen Wadia, a former flight attendant, started the Gladrags fashion magazine and is president of the Gladrags beauty pageants. His brother, Jehangir, is the head of the GoAir airline.
Till 2011, Ness Wadia was the joint managing director of Bombay Dyeing. Since he stepped down, he has been co-owner of the Punjab IPL team and managing director of the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation. He is also on the board of directors of several companies, like Britannia Industries and Wadia BSN.
Wadia has degrees in international relations from Tufts University in the US and engineering management from the University of Warwick in England. He obtained his master’s degree in management in 1998, in the middle of his career, and finished in 2001.
He dated Preity Zinta for nearly five years from 2005, and has been linked to other glamorous women both before and after this relationship. They include actor Nargis Fakhri and Janine Jeejeebhoy, the daughter of a wealthy Parsi businessman.
In 2008, when he was still dating Zinta, Wadia decided to put some of his money in an IPL team, the Mohali-based Kings XI Punjab. He and Zinta own 23% stake each in the team, while industrialist Mohit Burman owns 46%. Karan Paul, the chairman of Apeejay-Surrendra Group, Colway Investment, and Root Investment have smaller stakes. Wadia and Zinta paid $76 million to acquire the franchise.
In 2010-'11, after three IPL seasons, the team saw cumulative losses of Rs 68 crore. In 2012-'13, however, the company claimed to have recorded a profit of Rs 78 lakh before tax. In 2010, the Registrar of Companies in Chandigarh had filed a criminal complaint against Ness Wadia, Zinta and Burman for failing to share the balance sheets of their franchise with the registrar.
