Cyrus Mistry, former chairman of the Tata International Group, which owns the fifth largest automobile company in the world, Tata Motors, was killed today (Sunday) in a car accident after his car hit a dividing fence in Maharashtra’s Paljahar roundabout near the Indian capital, Mumbai. Mistry was 54 years old at the time of his death. He was married and left behind a wife and two children.
Cyrus Mistry was the first chairman of the Tata Group who was not a member of the Tata family that founded the conglomerate named after him back in the 19th century. The company has subsidiaries in many fields, including automobiles, steel and investments. He was appointed chairman of the group in 2012, When he replaced family member Ratan Tata. He was removed from his post for a total of 4 years, in 2016, following a Tata family-led coup on the international company’s board. The control struggles in the company’s board of directors turned into heavy accusations of poor management, silencing minority voices among the shareholders.
The Mistry family is considered to be one of the richest families in India, with Cyrus alone worth around $15 billion. The entire family’s fortune is estimated at close to 20 billion dollars. The Mistry family’s holding company owns 18% of the Tata family’s holding company, making it the largest holder of Tata shares.
According to local police reports, Mistry drove from Ahmedabad to Mumbai in a Mercedes car. “The accident occurred around 3:15 pm (local time), while Mr. Mistry was traveling to Mumbai from the city of Ahmedabad,” according to the statement of the local police inspector, “the place of the accident was on a bridge over the Suriya River, the case looks like an accident.”
Mistry’s body was shifted to Casa Hospital in India for post-mortem.
The police statement added that two people were in the car with the deceased Mistry, both of whom were injured and were taken to a hospital in Gujarat. The two will be interrogated by the police once their treatment is over.