MUMBAI: Former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Pallonji Mistry was on Sunday killed in a road accident after his car hit a divider in Maharashtra's Palghar district neighbouring Mumbai. He was 54.
Mistry was travelling from Ahmedabad to Mumbai in a Mercedes car on the Mumbai Ahmedabad National Highway.
"The accident took place around 3.15 pm, when Mistry was travelling to Mumbai from Ahmedabad. The accident took place on a bridge over the Surya river. It seems an accident," said Palghar district superintendent of police, Balasaheb Patil.
A Kasa police station officer said the accident occurred at Charoti Naka when Mistry's car hit a road divider on the Surya river under the Kasa police station limits and dashed against the retention wall, killing him and another person on the spot.
A well-known gynaecologist, Anahita Pandole (55) was driving the car.
Anahita and her husband Darius Pandole (60), who were in the front seats, survived the crash, while Mistry and Jahangir Pandole, brother of Darius, were killed in the accident. Mistry and Jahangir were in the back seats.
Primary information suggests that the car was overspeeding and tried to overtake another vehicle from the wrong side (from the left), a police official told PTI.
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.
The body of Mistry has been shifted to the Kasa Rural Hospital for postmortem.
He is survived by his wife and two children. He also has a brother Shapoorji.
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Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde expressed his shock over Mistry's death. "Shocked to hear about the passing away of former Tata Sons chief Cyrus Mistry. He was not only a successful entrepreneur but also was seen in the industry as a young, bright & visionary personality. It's a great loss... My heartfelt tribute", he said.
N Chandrasekaran, currently Chairman, Tata Sons, said he was deeply saddened by the sudden and untimely demise of Mistry. "He had a passion for life, and it is really tragic that he passed away at such a young age. My deepest condolences and prayers for his family in these difficult times", he said.
Mistry vs the Tata Group
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In 2012, Mistry's name made headlines when he was selected to lead one of India's largest business conglomerates Tata Sons after Ratan Tata stepped down. Cyrus was chosen as the sixth chairman of the group based on the representation of Shapoorji Palonji Group, the largest shareholder in Tata Group.
However, Mistry was ousted from the position in October 2016 as "the board of Tata Sons lost confidence in him and his ability to lead the Tata Group in future". Former chairman Ratan Tata then returned as interim chairman. Natarajan Chandrasekaran was named as the new chairman a few months later.
Following his removal, boardroom battles played out with Mistry being removed as director in several listed and unlisted entities of the group, including TCS, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Indian Hotels Co Ltd, Tata Chemicals, Tata Power, Tata Teleservices and Tata Industries.
Two Mistry family backed investment firms, Cyrus Investments Pvt Ltd and Sterling Investments Corporation Pvt Ltd, moved NCLT Mumbai, alleging oppression of minority shareholders and mismanagement by Tata Sons, while also challenging Mistry's removal.
When NCLT Mumbai dismissed the pleas of the two Mistry family-backed firms, they moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).
On December 18, 2019, the NCLAT declared the appointment of Chandrasekaran as executive chairman illegal, and restored Mistry as the executive chairman of USD 100-billion salt-to-software conglomerate but it suspended its implementation for four weeks in order to provide time for Tatas to appeal.
Then on January 2, 2020, Tata Sons challenged the NCLAT decision before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court, however, on March 26, 2021, while allowing Tata Group's appeals set aside NCLAT's order restoring Mistry.
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This year in May, the top court dismissed a plea of the Sapoorji Pallonji 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.
Mistry owned an 18.4 per cent stake in Tata Sons, through his company, Cyrus Investments Pvt. Ltd, and in 2018, his net worth was approximately $10 billion.
Born to a Parsi family, the 54-year-old Cyrus Mistry was the son of Indian billionaire and construction magnate Pallonji Mistry.
On 27th June this year, Pallonji Mistry passed away at 93. In addition to Cyrus and Shapoorji, he also has two daughters, Laila and Aloo. The latter is married to Noel Tata, the half-brother of Ratan Tata.
(With inputs from PTI and Rakesh Kumar)