Former Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry died in a road accident on Sunday. He was 54. The accident occurred in Charoti in Palghar when his Mercedes was returning from Ahmedabad to Mumbai. 

“The accident took place around 3.15 pm when Mr Mistry was travelling to Mumbai from Ahmedabad. The accident took place on a bridge over the Surya river. It seems an accident,” the PTI quoted a police official as saying. 

The accident happened when the car hit the road divider in Charoti, 135 km from Mumbai. 

Along with Mr Mistry, Jehangir Pandole, Anahita Pandole and Darius Pandole were present in the car. 

Jehangir Pandole, brother of Darius Pandole, was the other person who died in the accident. 

Darius Pandole was an independent director in Tata Group companies and had opposed the removal of Mr Mistry as the company’s chairman. He had also left the Tata Group with Mr Mistry. 

Darius is Anahita’s husband. Anahita Pandole, a well-known gynaecologist in Mumbai, was driving the car. 

The body of Mr Mistry has been shifted to the Kasa Rural Hospital for post-mortem. A Kasa police station officer said that the accident occurred at Charoti Naka on the Surya river bridge under the Kasa police station limits. 

Mr Mistry is survived by his wife and two sons. One of his close family friends said that Mr Mistry’s family members were abroad for a function. 

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran expressed condolences and prayers with the Mistry family and said that he was deeply saddened by the sudden and untimely demise of Mr Mistry. “He had a passion for life, and it is really tragic that he passed away at such a young age,” Mr Chandrasekaran said. 

This is the latest blow for the Mistry family, whose patriarch, Pallonji Mistry – Cyrus’ father – had died in June at the age of 93. Their empire had built luxury hotels, stadiums, palaces and factories across Asia, but was most recently known for a corporate feud with the Tata Group. 

In October 2016, Mr Mistry was ousted as chairman of Tata Sons, the group’s holding company. He had then accused of financial wrongdoing and corporate governance violations at AirAsia India, a Tata-owned airline that was founded in partnership with Malaysia’s AirAsia. 

Mr Mistry had highlighted “fraudulent transactions and ethical concerns” at AirAsia India, revealed by a forensic investigation, in a letter he had written to the directors of Tata Sons.