When Cyrus Poonawalla spent £32,500 for a pencil portrait of Gandhi at a UK auction

The rare pencil portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, inscribed by him in 1931, made headlines when it went under the hammer at Sotheby's London auction on Tuesday. Now, it turns out that the highest bidder for the portrait was industrialist Cyrus Poonawalla. The Poonawalla Group chairman won the bid for the portrait for nearly three times its highest estimated price at £32,500.



Speaking about his intention behind buying the sketch, Poonawalla said, "I am absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to bring a work of such historical value back to India. Mahatma Gandhi is one of the most respected and revered figures in the world and considered to be the father of our nation, and so to have such a rare and intimate depiction of him at work, and signed by the great man himself, is an incredible honour and pleasure."