Posted: 17:59, September 4, 2022 | Updated: 19:47, September 4, 2022
India’s prime minister paid tribute to one of the country’s most prominent businessmen who was famously toppled in a boardroom coup in 2016, who was killed in a road accident today. Narendra Modi described the billionaire former chairman of Tata, India’s largest conglomerate with annual revenues of $128 billion, Cyrus Mistry as a “promising business leader” and said “his death is a great loss to the world of commerce and of the industry”. 54-year-old Mistry was traveling from Ahmedabad to Mumbai when the Mercedes he was traveling in hit a divider on a bridge in Palghar around 3:15 pm today. Another person was killed and two passengers were injured, police in India’s western state of Maharashtra said. Mistry’s body was taken to Kasa Rural Hospital in Gujarat for post-mortem. The news is the latest blow for the Mistry family, which lost its patriarch Palonji Mistry just two months ago at the age of 93. Cyrus Mistry, 54, died in a road accident today when the Mercedes he was traveling in (pictured) collided with a divider on a bridge in Palghar. Mr Mistry was chairman of Tata, India’s largest conglomerate, from 2012 to 2016 (pictured at the company’s annual general meeting in 2014) The Shapoorji Pallonji family construction company, which started more than 150 years ago and today employs more than 50,000 people, has built iconic buildings such as the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai and the blue and gold Al Alam Palace for the Sultan of Oman. But Pallonji Mistry made his real fortune from being the single largest shareholder – 18.5% in early 2022 – in Tata Sons, a trading conglomerate with interests in everything from construction to chemicals to communications and which owns Tetley Tea and Jaguar Land Rover. His son Cyrus was appointed chairman of Tata Sons in 2012, becoming only the second top official not to carry the Tata family name. But he was publicly ousted just four years later after criticism of his performance. The court battle between Cyrus and his replacement, Ratan Tata, sparked a long-running legal battle in which India’s highest court ultimately ruled in favor of the Tata Group, saying Cyrus’ ouster was legal. Cyrus’ elder brother Shapoor Mistry is the chairman of SP Group, one of India’s largest construction companies. The brothers, who along with their two sisters automatically became Irish citizens due to their Dublin-born mother Patsy Perin Dubash, founded venture capital firm Mistry Ventures LLP in 2018. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to the businessman, saying “his death is a great loss to the world of commerce and industry.” A graduate in civil engineering from Imperial College London and in management from the London Business School, Cyrus Mistry described himself as a voracious business reader and golfer and shared his family’s love of horses. He is survived by his wife Rohiqa and their two sons, Firoz and Zahan. Several prominent politicians and industrialists sent their condolences on Twitter after news of the 54-year-old’s death, including Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaren, who said he was “deeply saddened by the sudden and untimely death” of Mr. Mistry , whom he described as having a “passion for life”. Meanwhile, Indian politician Devendra Fadnavis, the current Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, paid a “heartfelt tribute” to Mr Mistry, whom he described as a humble and great personality. He added that the Director General of Police has been asked to conduct a thorough investigation into the accident.
