Former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry and a co-passenger, who were killed in a car crash on Sunday, were not wearing seat belts, a police officer said after a preliminary investigation. They added that over-speeding and the error of judgement by the driver might have caused the accident.
The primary investigation revealed that the luxury car was speeding as it covered 20 kilometres in just 9 minutes after crossing the Charoti check post in the Palghar district, 120 km away from Mumbai.
The car hit a road divider on the bridge on the Surya river, killing Mistry (54) and Jahangir Pandole on the spot. Mistry was returning to Mumbai from Ahmedabad when the tragedy struck at 2:30 pm. The car was driven by Mumbai-based gynaecologist Anahita Pandole (55). She and her husband were seriously injured in the accident.
“As per the preliminary investigation, overspeeding and the error of judgement caused the car accident. Both the deceased were not wearing seat belts,” the officer said on Sunday night. “While analysing the footages captured by CCTV cameras at the Charoti check post, Palghar Police found that the car had crossed the check post around 2.21 pm and the accident occurred 20 km ahead (in the direction of Mumbai),” he said.
This shows the Mercedes car covered 20 km of distance (from the cheek post) in just 9 minutes, the officer said, adding that the accident occurred at 2.30 pm on the bridge on the Surya river. Mistry and Jahangir Pandole were in the back seats. Darius was in the front seat with Anahita, who was at the wheel, police had said. An eye-witness had said that a woman was driving the car and tried to overtake another vehicle from the left side, but lost control and crashed into the road divider.
Police added that the help arrived in 10 minutes and two injured persons were pulled out from the car and shifted by an ambulance to the hospital. However, the other two were brought dead.
“Two people including Cyrus Mistry were brought dead here. Cyrus had a head injury and there was internal bleeding. In the initial stages, it looks like an accidental death. Further details can be known after the police investigation” Dr Shubaham Singh of Kasa District Hospital said.
The bodies of Mistry and Jahangir Pandole have been sent to state-run JJ Hospital in Mumbai for postmortem, the officer said. Anahita Pandole and her husband Darius Pandole (60) were seriously injured in the accident. They are being shifted to a Mumbai hospital by road from Vapi in Gujarat on Sunday late night, the officer added.
