Indian billionaire involved in alleged murder plot married to Peabody Essex Museum board member

SALEM – Indian billionaire Amil Ambani, in the world news spotlight this week following allegations that someone sabotaged his helicopter in a murder attempt, has local ties. His wife, former Bollywood movie star Tina Ambani, is the only international member of the Peabody Essex Museum Board of Trustees.Amil Ambani told police in Mumbai that pebbles and gravel were found in the chopper’s engine and, had the aircraft lifted off, the debris could easily have severed vital parts and caused a fatal crash. The intrigue was soon compounded when the technician who discovered the pebbles turned up dead along railroad tracks in suburban Mumbai. Investigators described Bharat Borge’s death as a suicide but the man’s family believe he was murdered.Ambani is among the world’s richest men. His wife, the former Tina Munim, was elected last September to the Peabody Essex Museum’s Board of Trustees because of her strong support for Indian art.”Tina Ambani’s passionate commitment to traditional, modern and contemporary Indian art makes her an ideal person to serve as PEM’s first international trustee,” Richard Carlson, the museum board chairman, said last fall.A social philanthropist and patron of the arts, Ambani established the Harmony Art Foundation, an institution that supports India’s emerging and known artists. She put her film career on hold to pursue her education in the United States. Upon returning to India, she married the wealthy industrialist, with whom she has two sons.Upon accepting the PEM trusteeship, she said, “There is a tremendous synergy between the Peabody Essex Museum and Harmony Art Foundation based on our belief in Indian art and our genuine commitment to bring it to the global stage. It’s time that the art world looks beyond the current fads and market trends to establish an abiding interest in the incredible power and potential of Indian art.”The PEM began collecting Indian art in 1799.