Cyrus Mistry car crash: Doc behind the wheel booked

Palghar (Maharashtra), Nov 5

Two months after former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry died in a car accident, the police in Maharashtra’s Palghar district on Saturday registered a case against Dr Anahita Pandole for alleged rash driving.

A case under Indian Penal Code Sections 304(A) (causing death by rash and negligent act), 279 (rash driving on a public road) and 337 (causing death by act endangering life and personal safety of others) besides the Motor Vehicles Act was registered at Kasa police station, officials said.

Mistry (54) and his friend Jahangir Pandole died in a car crash on a bridge on the Surya river on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway in Palghar district adjoining Mumbai on September 4, 2022. They were sitting on the back seat of the Mercedes car. Anahita Pandole, a Mumbai gynaecologist who was driving the car, and her husband Darius Pandole who was sitting next to her, were seriously injured.

During the investigation, witnesses were questioned and reports were obtained from the Regional Transport Office and Mercedes Benz India, Pune, said a police release here. “Based on the reports and probe it has been established that the accident was the result of rash and negligent driving,” and hence a case has been registered against Dr Anahita Pandole, it added.

A police official had claimed on Friday that Darius Pandole (60) told the police in his statement that his wife Dr Anahita could not merge the vehicle into the second lane from the third lane of the road that turned narrow near the Surya river bridge.