The frequent occurrences of road accidents involving high-profile individuals has raised many questions. The tragic death of industrialist Cyrus P Mistry and his friend in early-September and more recently a near-fatal car accident involving India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant share a common factor - the make of their cars.
High-profile accidents & Mercedes cars
Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant was injured in a car accident on Thursday near Uttarkhand's Roorkee, according to authorities. The accident took place near Hammadpur Jhal while the cricketer was returning home from Delhi. He suffered injuries on his forehead and leg and his condition is stable.
According to witnesses, Rishabh's car collided with the railing and caught fire. The cricketer was driving a Mercedes Benz-AMG GLE43 Coupe.
Similarly, Mistry was killed in a road accident on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai national highway in Maharashtra's Palghar in September. Mistry along with three other occupants in the car, brothers Darius and Jehangir Pandole, and Darius Pandole's wife Anahita Pandole, were returning from Gujarat's Udwada to Mumbai. The Mercedes Benz GLC 220D SUV was being driven by Anahita Pandole, a renowned gynaecologist at Mumbai's Beach Candy hospital.
In another incident involving a Mercedes Benz car, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's brother Prahlad Modi along with his wife, son and daughter-in-law, met with a car accident while travelling to Bandipur. They were travelling in a Mercedes Benz GLS SUV, which hit a divider and took severe damage to the front.
Reasons for accidents
Rishabh Pant's Mercedes Benz was gutted in the fire after the accident. Uttarakhand Police Director General Ashok Kumar claimed the cricketer broke the windshield to escape the vehicle. Luckily, Pant did not suffer from any serious injuries and was conscious. According to the police, Pant fell asleep while driving, which caused the accident.
In the case of Mistry's car crash, the police provisionally termed it as an "overspeeding case" which may have resulted in the devastating accident, especially since Palghar and surrounding regions were battered with heavy rains. Mistry, former Tata Sons Chairman, was also sitting in the back seat and was not wearing a seatbelt when his speeding Mercedes crashed into a divider.
The police probe later revealed that the Mercedes Benz car, registered in the name of JM Financials, of which Darius Pundole is one of the directors -- was involved in several traffic rules violations in the past couple of years, said Patil. Overspeeding and not wearing seat belts were cited as the main reasons for the tragic deaths in the Mistry car crash.
According to Mercedes Benz's technical analysis report (EDR report), the vehicle was being driven at 100kmph and the brakes were applied five seconds before the crash. The report also said the vehicle went from 100kmph to 89kmph in three-and-a-half seconds. The report also mentioned seat belts, which weren't worn by the deceased.
In the car accident involving PM Modi's brother, the driver is said to have lost control of the wheels and hit the divider. Reacting to the incident, Prahlad Modi said: "The Mercedes Benz car in which we were travelling belongs to my friend Rajashekar. Whenever I come here, I use his vehicle. When the accident took place, the airbags opened for which we are safe now."
