Cyrus Mistry death: No seatbelt, car was overspeeding before crash
Cyrus Mistry, the former Tata Sons chairman who died in a car crash in Maharashtra on Sunday, was reportedly not wearing a seatbelt. According to the police, the Mercedes car the industrialist was traveling in—from Ahmedabad to Mumbai—was overspeeding, covering 20km in nine minutes, and crashed into a barricade after a failed attempt to take over another car. Here are the latest developments.
Why does this story matter?
Mistry's untimely death has shocked commercial and industrialist circles. He belonged to one of the oldest business families in India. Mistry rose to prominence when he was chosen as the chairman of Tata Sons after Ratan Tata stepped down in 2012. Notably, he was the first non-Tata chairman of the group. However, in 2016, the board of Tata Sons voted to remove him.
Both back-seat passengers were not wearing seatbelts
Mistry's car was being driven at a very high speed and managed to cover 20km in just nine minutes, Hindustan Times quoted the police as saying. Additionally, both passengers in the rear seats—Mistry and Jehangir Pandole—were not wearing seatbelts and hence lost their lives in the crash. To recall, the car had four passengers and was being driven by Mumbai-based gynecologist Anahita Pandole.
Car was overspeeding, error of judgment by Anahita
A preliminary probe by the police revealed that the Mercedes car crossed the Charoti check post in Palghar at 2:21 pm on Sunday, while the accident took place over the Surya River's bridge at 2:30 pm, which is about 20km from the checkpoint. Hence, it covered this distance at a very high speed, police officials said, further citing an error of judgment by Anahita.
Cyrus Mistry suffered head injury, internal bleeding
What else do we know about the accident?
According to the doctors who attended to Mistry at Gujarat's Kasa District Hospital, he suffered a head injury and had internal bleeding. While Mistry was brought dead, Jehangir died during transit and received a left leg fracture and head injury. The front seat passengers, Anahita and her husband Darius Pandole, received serious injuries and are undergoing treatment. Reportedly, they were saved by airbags.
Mistry's body sent for postmortem
According to an eyewitness, Anahita was trying to take over another car from the left side but crashed into the divider after failing to do so. Meanwhile, Mistry and Jehangir's bodies have reportedly been sent to Mumbai's JJ Hospital for postmortem. Anahita and Darius, who had been admitted to a hospital in Gujarat's Vapi, are also being shifted to a Mumbai hospital, reports said.
