Owner of controversial $20 million 'sky mansion' built on top of 400ft skyscraper has never been in it

What are you to do, if you want a countryside-style mansion with grounds, an outdoor pool and a traditional design, but you owned a skyscraper instead?

Why, you build a mansion on top of your skyscraper, obviously.

That's what Vijay Mallya did in Bengaluru, India, constructing a $20 million mansion on the highest level of a 400ft skyscraper in UB City, the downtown business centre of the region.

It's a building that has gone viral many times in the last few years thanks to its far-fetched design and dystopian attitude to civic space.

One remarkable detail has come to light more recently, though, which would doubtless be of interest to anyone who's seen the building before - Mallya has reportedly never even been to it in person.

It transpires that Mallya fled India back in 2016 as a result of growing charges relating to alleged financial crimes, and in the process seemingly defaulted on some $1 billion of debt, which isn't exactly small change - even to someone who builds buildings on top of buildings.

Instagram/@sriharikaranth

Mallya now reportedly lives in the UK, and hasn't yet been successfully forced into extradition by India despite its best efforts.

He will seemingly be extradited at some point in the relatively near future, though, as he's now been successfully convicted on another judgment and faces four months of jail time for disobeying an earlier court judgement regarding the collapse of his airline, Kingfisher Airlines.

Meanwhile, his long-gestating 'sky mansion', as it's been labelled, is nearing the point of completion - although it's looked nearly finished for quite some time.

Back in late 2023, the project's main contractors were quoted as saying the mansion was nearly finished but that it had unsurprisingly proven to be a hugely complex build, since there's a massive set of cantilevers involved to give it more space at the top of the skyscraper.

Instagram/@sriharikaranth

Mallya is a well-known businessman, who made huge sums out of his involvements with beer brand Kingfisher and a Formula 1 racing team.

Quite how this whole situation resolves itself is something that will probably only be made clearer by the passage of time - whether Mallya ends up spending much longer than four months in prison remains to be seen.

Either way, though, it looks like the Sky Mansion will be vacant for a good while longer.