The financial management graduate’s life was claimed by a blazing car crash at 02:44am as he drove to Munyonyo where he had planned to sleep before joining the wedding of a close ally Jonathan Bahizi Buteera and Liz Mutoni, where he was slated to be one of the groom’s entourage at the wedding organised at All Saints Cathedral Nakasero.
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At the tender age of 35 years, the would-be inheritor to Ruparelia Group of Companies belonging to Uganda’s wealthiest man Sudhir Ruparelia, perished in a grizzly early morning mishap at Busaabala flyover on Entebbe Expressway, in Makindye-Ssabagabo, when his posh Nissan GT-R Sport car registration number UAT 638L caught fire after he rammed into concrete barriers erected by road constructors.
Rajiv, the husband to Nalya Khagram Ruparelia and father to a lone 3-year-old daughter, was destined to inherit his 69-year old father Sudhir Ruparelia’s business conglomerate estimated to be worth 1.6bn USD according to a 2025 Forbes report.
The business mogul runs businesses including schools, a bank, insurance companies, real estate, communication complexes, hotels and other places of entertainment.
The financial management graduate’s life was claimed by a blazing car crash at 02:44am as he drove to Munyonyo where he had planned to sleep before joining the wedding of a close ally Jonathan Bahizi Buteera and Liz Mutoni, where he was slated to be one of the groom’s entourage at the wedding organised at All Saints Cathedral Nakasero.
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Rajiv was due to march with the couple alongside Gideon Kirumira, son to business magnate Godfrey Kirumira, the Kabaka’s son Kiweewa Jjunju, Peter Kawanguzi, Ignatius Kirunga and Banza Birondwa. He was the only son to Sudhir and Jyotsna, and had two sisters, Sheena and Meera Ruparelia.
The car that claimed Rajiv’s life, the NISSAN GT-R (Gran Turismo Racing) Sport is one of a fleet of expensive cars he owned including a 2022 McLaren 765LT Spyder given to him by his father as a token of a father’s love. The Japanese NISSAN car is one of the world’s swiftest, and is only comparable in cost and performance, to Bugatti Valeron, Porsche Spyder, Lamborghini, Ferrari Enzo,McLaren and Aston Martin.
According to first-on-the-scene witnesses, the car was hurled into air for about eight metres before landing and sending its engine metres away. “It immediately caught fire because it uses aviation fuel which is highly flammable”, a rescuer who did not want to be named said. Rescuers could not dare the fierce flames and by the time the fire brigade team arrived, the vehicle had gone up into ashes.
They told our team that the spot where Rajiv perished turned into a death spot since road contractors erected the concrete barriers, and that accidents have been recorded almost on a daily basis. They said many people have perished at the spot and that Rajiv is attracting attention because of his celebrity status.
Muzafar Katamba, a Busaabala resident, said every two days, there is at least a death at this spot, and added that the place was rendered a hazard after road contractors undertaking works at the Gangu-Kaazi-Busaabala and Entebbe-Kajjansi road junction erected the barriers, during works to improve the 12-km Munyonyo-Kajjansi stretch of the Munyonyo-Entebbe Expressway.
The Ruparelia family has issued arrangements for cremation on Tuesday at 2:30pm at the Lugogo Hindu cemetery. Among prominent people who thronged Sudhir’s Kololo home to pay homage at the vigil were Buganda’s Katikkiro, Charles Peter Mayega, the Chairman of Bagagga Kwagalana Group Godfrey Kirumira, Hamis Kiggundu, Francis Drake Lubega, Mansoor Matovu ‘Yanga’, Omar Ssekamatte, Moses Kayongo, John Bosco Muwonge, and government officials including Works and Transport Minister Gen. Katumba Wamala, the speaker of Parliament, Annet Anita Among, his deputy, Thomas Tayebwa and State Minister for Privatization and investment, Evelyn Anite.
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