The Pallonji Group head and former Chairman of Tata Sons, Cyrus Mistry, died in a car crash while returning from Gujarat’s Udwada to Mumbai in a Mercedes car. Also dead was a co-passenger. Cyrus was 54 and is survived by his wife and two children.
The accident took place on the Surya River Charoti bridge on the Mumbai Ahmedabad National Highway. Mistry was accompanied by three other family friends – brothers Darius and Jehangir Pandole, and Darius Pandole’s wife Anahita Pandole.
Anahita Pandole, a Mumbai-based gynaecologist was driving the Mercedes GLC car when the accident happened. While Cyrus Mistry and Jahangir Pandole died on the spot, Anahita and Darius were injured. They are being shifted (airlifted) to a Mumbai hospital.
Primary investigation revealed that Cyrus Mistry and a co-passenger killed in the car crash were not wearing seat belts and over-speeding and the “error of judgement” by the driver caused the accident.
The luxury car covered 20 km of distance in just 9 minutes after crossing the Charoti check post in the Palghar district, 120 km away from Mumbai. The car apparently hit a road divider on the bridge on the Surya river, killing Mistry (54) and Jahangir Pandole on the spot.
Mistry, who was the sixth chairman of Tata Sons, was ousted from the position in October 2016. He had taken over as the chairman in December 2012 after Ratan Tata announced his retirement. N Chandrasekaran later took over as Executive Chairman of Tata Sons.
The Supreme Court in May had dismissed a plea of the Sapoorji Pallonji (SP) group seeking a review of the 2021 verdict which had upheld the Tata group’s decision to remove Cyrus Mistry as the executive chairman of the Tata Sons.
