By Our Special Correspondent
Cyrus Mistry, 54, the former chairman of Indian conglomerate Tata Sons, has died in a road accident near the financial capital of Mumbai, Indian police said.
Mistry was ousted as chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of the $300 billion salt-to-software Tata conglomerate, in a boardroom coup in 2016 that led to a long, drawn-out legal battle in which India's highest court eventually ruled against the Tata group in favor.
The accident happened in Palghar, about 100 km (62 miles) north of Mumbai, on Sunday afternoon. Palghar District Superintendent of Police B Patil said that Mistry was going to Mumbai from Gujarat along with three others.
A senior Mumbai Police official said that Mistry died on the spot when the car he was traveling in rammed into a divider.
After the news of Mistry's death, several prominent politicians and industrialists tweeted their condolences. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Mistry's death untimely and shocking.
"He was a good business leader who believed in India's economic prowess. His death is a great loss to the world of commerce and industry," Modi tweeted.
The Mistry family and Tata Sons did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tata Consultancy Services, which owns a majority stake in Tata Sons, said it mourned the untimely death of its former chairman, adding that the company offered "deepest condolences and prayers" to his family and friends.
"He is a warm, friendly and affable person who has built a strong bond with the TCS family during his tenure as chairman of the company," TCS said in a statement.
Mistry is the sixth chairman of the Tata Group, a conglomerate that started 150 years ago, and the second not to bear the Tata name. He is the brother-in-law of Noel Tata and half-brother of Mistry's predecessor, Ratan Tata.
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