Former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry’s car hit a divider on a river bridge at high speed in Charo area of Palghar, 135 km from Mumbai, around 3 pm on Sunday. Cyrus was pronounced dead at the scene. The speed of the car was 135 km per hour at the time of the accident.
Three members of the Pandole family were also in the car with Cyrus. Jahangir Pandole was sitting in the back seat of the car with Cyrus, Darius Pandole, Cyrus’s friend and Jehangir’s grandfather, and his wife Anahita Pandole were in front. Anahita was in the driver’s seat of the car.
The Pandole family has a glorious history. From 1889 to 1994 Dukes, the cold drink manufacturer that rocked the market, was owned by the Pandole family. Mangola was one of Dukes Company’s various flavored cold drinks. At one time the popularity of this drink reached its peak.
‘Duke & Sons’ was founded by Dinshaoji Kuvarji Pandole, an Indian cricketer of Parsi origin. Dinshaoji was the grandfather of Darius and Jahangir. Dinshaoji named his company after the cricket ball manufacturing company ‘Duke & Sons’.
Till 1994, the company was owned by the Pandole family. But after that the company was sold to PepsiCo. Basically, the company bought PepsiCo to reduce competition in the market.
Darius, 60, was the Managing Director and CEO of JM Financial Private Equity in Mumbai. He was also one of the directors of Tata group firms.
Darius was one of several Tata Group executives who opposed the decision to remove Cyrus as chairman of Tata Sons. Cyrus also left the Tata Group after his ouster.
Darius’s wife Anahita is a top gynecologist at a private hospital in Mumbai. Anahita played a leading role in removing illegal hoardings occupying the streets of Mumbai. With this, he also came up in the headlines.
Anahita is one of the founders of an organization called ‘Jio Parsi’. The organization was created to prevent population decline in the Parsi community. Anahita specialized in infertility treatment, critical care obstetrics and endoscopic surgery.
Darius and Jahangir’s father Dinsha died recently. The Pandole brothers went to Udwada near Ahmedabad to pray for Baba. There is the ‘Fire Temple’ of the Parsis. The three members of the Pandole family went to pray for Dinsha in this temple. Cyrus was with him.
This car met with an accident while returning from Ahmedabad to Mumbai after praying. Apart from Cyrus, Jahangir also died on the spot due to this accident. Darius and Anahita are admitted in a private hospital in Mumbai in a critical condition.
Sources also said that the bodies of Cyrus and Jahangir were taken to JJ Hospital in Mumbai on Monday for post-mortem. According to police sources, the car of Cyrus Mistry, the former chairman of Tata Sons, passed the four checkposts of Palghar and crossed the next 20 kilometers in just nine minutes. That is, the speed of the accident car was about 135 km per hour.
Preliminary investigations suggest that the driver lost control due to excessive speed. And as a result the car got into an accident.
Sources also said that according to preliminary investigation, Cyrus was sitting in the back seat of the car at the time of the accident. He and Jahangir did not fasten seat belts while driving.
(September 5)