In a longish obituary, The Times London described Angad Paul as a businessman and a philanthropist who ran the steel company.
Amid an outpouring of grief, Angad Paul, the youngest son of industrialist Lord Swraj Paul, was cremated here today, his funeral attended by hundreds of people.
Family, friends, business associates, the rich and the famous were present at the Golders Green electric crematorium despite cold and a steady drizzle, for the final rites of the 45-year-old CEO of the Caparo Group who plunged eight floors to his death six days ago.
A devastated Swaraj Paul, 84, broke down several times as over 1,000 mourners offered their condolences to him, his wife Aruna and Angad's widow Michelle. Other members of the Paul family including some who had flown in from other parts of the world were also present.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had telephoned Lord Paul as soon as he learnt about the tragedy as had Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and scores of other political leaders from India and the UK. Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also conveyed his condolences.
NRI industrialists Gopichand Hinduja, Lakshmi Mittal, Nat Puri, Lord Raj Loomba, leading hotelier Joginder Sanger, MPs, several figures from the world of art and craft, and Angad's friends and business associates from the US, Australia and other countries were among those who attended the funeral.
"His was a beautiful mind and soul, and heart of gold," said Anjali Paul, eulogising her brother before the somber gathering.
In a longish obituary, The Times London described Angad as a businessman and a philanthropist who ran the steel company set up by his father and invested in films made by Madonna's ex-husband Guy Ritchie, a reference to the hit movie 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels', of which Angad was the executive producer.
The newspaper recalled that Angad had quietly visited the Amazon on three occasions in the past decade to live among remote tribal communities, first with Greenpeace and later independently with the Yawanawa people in Brazil. He said he was seeking a deeper understanding of the human condition.