Former chairman of Tata Sons Cyrus Mistry dies in road accident near Mumbai
04 Sep 2022
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Cyrus Pallonji Mistry, former chairman of Tata Sons and a member of Shapoorji Pallonji Group, a major shareholder of Tata Sons, died in a road accident today at Palghar, in Thane district of Maharashtra. He was traveling in a Mercedes car from Ahmedabad to Mumbai in a car.
The accident occurred when the car in which he was traveling, rammed into a road divider, police sources said, adding that there were a total of four people in the car. Two of them, including Mistry, died on the spot while the other two have been admitted to a nearby hospital.
Cyrus Mistry, 54, was the sixth chairman of the Tata Sons from 2012 to 2016. He succeeded Ratan Tata – but there were disagreements between the two, and Tata Sons’ board ousted him in 2016. He was fighting a court battle with Tata Group till 2021 when the courts ruled in Tata Sons’ favour.
“The accident took place around 3.15 pm, when Mistry was travelling to Mumbai from Ahmedabad,” news agency PTI quoted Palghar district superintendent of police, Balasaheb Patil, as saying. The car was passing through a bridge over the Surya river.
Mistry's Mercedes MH- 47-AB- 6705 rammed to divider of the Surya river Bridge at Palghar. Mistry and another person got killed in this fatal accident. Police is probing the accident for any foul play.
A well-known gynaecologist, Anahita Pandole (55) was driving the car. She and her husband Darius Pandole (60), who were in the front seats, survived the crash, while Mistry and Jahangir Pandole, brother of Darius, who were in the back seat, were killed in the accident.
“A woman was driving the car and tried to overtake another vehicle from the left side, but lost control and crashed into the road divider,” an eyewitness said.
Anahita and Darius were shifted to a private hospital in Vapi in Gujarat for treatment.
Primary information suggests that the car was overspeeding and tried to overtake another vehicle from the wrong side (from the left), PTI quoted the police official as saying.
A video that was taken after the accident shows that the front end of the car got destroyed, but the rest of the car remains largely intact. The front airbags of the car were also deployed in the accident. There is no information as to how and why the car crashed into the divider, or how Cyrus Mistry was seriously injured in the accident.
It was under the leadership of Cyrus Mistry that Tata Motors began its focus on automobile safety, and the reputation of the company strengthened with many Tata cars receiving 4-star and 5-star safety ratings from Global NCAP.
Business leaders and politicians have expressed shock and disbelief at the passing of Cyrus Mistry.
Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shindem union transport minister Nitin Gadkari and union minister Piyush Goyal tweeted expressing their condolences to the Mistry family.
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