Former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry passed away in a road accident earlier on Sunday. The incident took place near Mumbai, in Maharashtra's Palghar district. Cyrus and four others were enroute to Palghar when the incident took place. The driver reportedly lost control of the car and barged in the river bridge. Mistry and one more person named Pandole were taken to a hospital, where they were declared brought dead.
Mahindra Group boss Anand Mahindra tweeted, "Hard to digest this news. I got to know Cyrus well during his all-too brief tenure as the head of the House of Tata. I was convinced he was destined for greatness. If life had other plans for him, so be it, but life itself should not have been snatched away from him. Om Shanti."
RPG Enterprises' Harsh Goenka also offered his last respects and wrote, "So sad to hear of the shocking news of the passing away of Cyrus Mistry in an accident. He was a friend, a gentleman, a man of substance. He was instrumental in creating the global construction giant Shapoorji Pallonji and ably led the Tata group."
Co-founder of e-commerce platform Snapdeal Kunal Bahl also offered his condolences to the former Tata Group chairperson. Bahl wrote, "This is really shocking. He was such a gentleman. Soft-spoken and kind. Always made time if you wanted to meet him and forever curious."
Cyrus Mistry was the chairman of the salt-to-software conglomerate from November 2011 to October 2016, until both the families—Tatas and Mistrys—engaged in a public legal spat. This ugly and public legal fracas began in October 2016 when Cyrus was unceremoniously removed as the Chairman of Tata Sons and Ratan Tata was named as the interim chairman. Post this, Mistry family backed firms -- Cyrus Investments Pvt Ltd and Sterling Investments Corporation Pvt Ltd moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in December 2016.
Also read: Cyrus Mistry - A good fit to preserve Tata Group's Parsi ethos, but a reluctant Chairman