Cyrus Mistry car crash survivor Anahita Pundole discharged from hospital

Mumbai: Mumbai medico Dr Anahita Pundole – who was driving the Mercedes Benz car when it met with an accident that left tycoon Cyrus Mistry and her brother-in-law Jehangir Pundole dead – was discharged from a private hospital here on Thursday.

Pundole, 55, spent 108 days at the Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital after she suffered serious injuries, along with her husband Darius Pundole, in the September 4 car crash over the bridge on the Surya River in Palghar district.

She returned home around a week after Kasa police station in Palghar finalised its charge sheet in the accident case even as the probe revealed that Pundole was a habitual “speedster”.

The Palghar police will file the charge sheet in a district court after completing formalities like her arrest and recording her statement soon, officials indicated.

Pundole, a Mumbai resident, has been charged under Indian Penal Code Section 304(A), 279, 337 and sections of the Motor Vehicles Act. If convicted, she can face at least two years in jail.

The police probe so far has revealed that the Mercedes Benz car, registered in the name of JM Financials, of which her husband Darius Pundole is a director — was involved in several traffic rules violations in the past couple of years, Superintendent of Police Balasaheb Patil had earlier told IANS.

The investigators have come across at least seven instances of over-speeding involving Pundole that were captured on speed cameras and traffic e-challans slapped on her since 2020.

The fresh evidence unearthed so far is now made a part of the charge sheet since it’s the same car that was involved in the Palghar accident, which took place when Mistry and the Pundole trio were returning from Udvada in south Gujarat to Mumbai on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway.

The Shapoorji Pallonji Group scion, Mistry, 54 — a former Tata Sons Chairman — and his childhood friend Jehangir Pundole, were killed instantly when the car rammed into a railing of the bridge on the Surya River that fateful Sunday, stunning the corporate world.

Anahita Pundole, who was allegedly driving the vehicle at a high speed and her husband Darius Pundole sitting beside her, suffered grave injuries in the road crash and after initial treatment at a Vapi hospital, the couple was shifted to Mumbai.

While Darius Pundole was discharged in late October after 54 days’ treatment, Anahita Pundole has been sent home now, a hospital official told IANS.

“After weeks of intensive care, multiple surgeries, medical management, Dr. Anahita Pundole is finally on the path of recovery, and underwent extensive rehab to attain functional independence, with experience and expertise backed by infrastructure and quick decision-making during her treatment,” said an official of the Sir HNRF Hospital.