Enlarge image
Multi-billionaire Cyrus Mistry: Prominent home builder
Photo: Rajanish Kakade/AP
Cyrus Mistry, the billionaire heir to one of India's best-known corporate empires, has died in a traffic accident on a highway near Mumbai, Maharashtra state police have announced.
The car in which he was sitting crashed into a barrier between two lanes for reasons that have not yet been clarified.
Another person lost their life and two passengers were taken to a local hospital with injuries.
Mistry was the son of Indian billionaire Pallonji Mistry and ran the Shapoorji Pallonji Group named after him.
The construction company is responsible for the construction of numerous skyscrapers and stadiums across India.
Abroad, Cyrus Mistry was best known as the former CEO of Tata Sons, the giant Indian conglomerate that owns the Jaguar and Land Rover car brands, among others.
In 2011 he was appointed the first company boss who is not related to the founding family.
A few years later, former chairman Ratan Tata threw him out of the company.
It was the beginning of a year-long feud that ultimately had to be decided in court.
Condolences from the Premier
In India, the news of the death of the billionaire caused consternation.
"I am deeply saddened by the sudden and untimely passing of Mr. Cyrus Mistry," Natarajan Chandrasekaran, current Tata Sons boss, said in a statement.
Other business and political leaders took to social media to express their condolences.
'The untimely passing of Shri Cyrus Mistry is shocking.
He was a promising business leader who believed in India's economic viability," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.
"His death is a great loss to the world of commerce and industry."
ray
