Sanjay Shah, the CEO of Illinois-based firm Vistex, and company president Raju Datla were being lowered onto a stage in an iron platform at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad when one of the wires snapped.
The founder-CEO of a US-based tech company d!ed and another official suffered severe injur!es in a freak a**ident during the firm’s corporate event at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad. A case has been registered for negligence and investigation is underway.
During the celebrations on Thursday evening, the company’s CEO Sanjay Shah and his colleague entered into an iron cage, which was to be lowered from a height, when the iron chain supporting it broke on one side, and both of them fell, they said. (Photo: Vistex.com)
The deceased has been identified as Sanjay Shah, 56, the CEO of Illinois-based firm Vistex. The company president Raju Datla has sustained gr!evous injur!es and is under treatment.
According to police, the inc!dent occurred at around 7.30 pm on Thursday during the firm’s silver jubilee celebrations.
Shah and Datla were being descended onto the stage in an iron platform from a height of about 20 feet when one of the iron wires supporting the platform snapped, leading to their fall, police said. The special stunt was planned as the opening of the event.
In a short video clip, the two executives could be seen waving at the audience as they were being descended onto the stage when the a**ident occurred.
They were immediately rushed to a nearby hospital and then to a corporate hospital. Shah succumbed to his injuries at 12.10 am on Friday whereas Datla is undergoing treatment for gr!evous injur!es and remains critic@l.
An FIR under sections 304 A (causing de@th by a rash or negligent act), 336 (endangering human life or personal safety of others), 287 (negligent conduct concerning machinery) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered at Abdullapurmet police station.
The management of Ramoji Film City, the event management company and others responsible for the safe conduct of the event have been booked.
Speaking to indianexpress.com, Sub-Inspector D Karnakar Reddy said police were informed of the inc!dent by one of the staff members at 8.40 pm, almost an hour after the inc!dent.
He added that as part of the investigation, negligence has to be proven and the police have written to experts concerning the machinery used.
“It is a stunt usually seen during dance programmes on stage shows when someone is brought down to the stage in a cage.
The 6 mm iron cable used here snapped. We feel it was sub-standard and safety precautions were not in place, but we will wait for a report from experts.
We have booked the management of the Ramoji Film City and others involved. No arrests have been made so far and the investigation is on,” he said.
Shah and Datla, both US citizens, had arrived in Hyderabad for a two-day event to celebrate the company’s 25 years with employees of the Hyderabad branch.
“It was just the beginning of the two-day event. The father, mother, wife and brothers of the deceased were present in the audience. Around 680 people from the Hyderabad branch were in the audience,” the SI added.
Mumbai-based Shah had set up Vistex as an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions firm in 1999 and moved to the US about 20 years ago.
Today, the company has 20 global offices and over 2,000 employees. Shah also founded the Vistex Foundation and the Vistex Institute for Executive Learning and Research at Lehigh University. Datla has been with Vistex since 2000.
