Billionaire built £15 million 'sky mansion' on top of skyscraper but may never get to live in it

Can you imagine splurging £15 million on building your dream house, only to never live in it?

Well, if you're Indian businessman Vijay Mallya, you don't have to. Having billions at your disposal can cause a bit of a headache, as you'd more or less have free rein to live wherever or however you want.

At that point, you could throw a dart at the dartboard of extravagant, outlandish, luxurious homes and settle on wherever it landed.

But Mallya decided to splash out and build a massive mansion on top of a skyscraper because, well, why not?

He chose the top of Kingfisher Towers in UB City, Bengaluru, in his home country. Boasting coverage of 40,000 square feet, the home is completely separate from those living in apartments in the building beneath it.

So, with all that money and power, why isn't he living there?

The house is currently unoccupied (Instagram/@sriharikaranth)

Back in 2016, the tycoon fled India to move to the UK after defaulting on debts of over $1bn (£842m), also facing charges of fraud among others. Mallya denied any wrongdoing.

So now, 15 years on, the mansion remains empty atop the Kingfisher Towers, and might remain that way indefinitely. If the design looks familiar to you, it's because the home was designed to be a replica of the White House.

As well as this, the luxury mansion features an infinity pool, a helipad, and large gardens. It's about 400 feet in the sky as well, with civilians forced to look up at the magnificent architecture which currently belongs to no-one.

The chairman of Prestige Estates Projects, Irfan Razack, leads a group that is part of a joint development agreement to construct Kingfisher towers, spoke of the difficulty faced when building the mansion on top of the apartment buildings.

"It was a challenge to construct the mansion on a huge cantilever at that height, but we have ensured we build it exactly the way it was conceived." he said.

Mallya fled to the UK in 2016 (Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

Mallya lost his appeal against a UK bankruptcy order in April this year, which was related to over £1 billion in debts owed to Indian banks.

The businessman has been fighting against bankruptcy and extradition proceedings in the UK for years, but in the end, the High Court in London upheld a 2021 order that declared him bankrupt.

This is in spite of his argument that he had paid his debts as his assets were seized by Indian authorities.

In 2023, British Security Minister Tom Tugendhat was asked about Mallya's extradition, and highlighted that the UK do not have an 'intention of becoming a place where those who are seeking to evade justice can hide', adding that both the UK and India have legal processes that must be seen through.

According to Reuters, Mallya's lawyers said that he was seeking to overturn the bankruptcy order. As for the matter of his extradition, Judge Anthony Mann said in his ruling that it 'has still not been enforced', adding: "Apparently Dr Mallya is still resisting extradition on other bases which have yet to be resolved."