Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu has called for stricter safety measures in adventure sports following the death of a 27-year-old entrepreneur from Tamil Nadu. Jayesh Ram, son of Mr Vembu’s close friends, died in a paragliding accident in Kullu, Manali on Friday.
“There are too many accidents with poor regulation, and I am deeply saddened that Jayesh has become the latest statistic,” Mr Vembu, who attended the funeral, shared in a post on Twitter. “There needs to be much stronger regulatory oversight here,” he said.
Yesterday I had the extremely sad duty of attending the funeral of Jayesh Ram, the 27-year-old son of my dear friend Siby Anand and Priya. He lost his life in a para-gliding accident in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh last Friday.
There are a lot of accidents because of the crooked regulators and I… pic.twitter.com/dZsmE0hW5M
– Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) 19 January 2025
Jayesh Ram, a resident of Vigneshwar Nagar in Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu, was on a tandem flight when his paraglider collided with another paraglider in mid-air. The paraglider collapsed, killing him. Sri Ram was declared dead on arrival at the hospital, and the pilot, Ashwini Kumar, suffered serious injuries and was referred to PGIMER, Chandigarh for treatment.
Mr Vembu said Mr Ram was the founder of Tools Hub, a fast-growing hardware retail store franchise backed by Zoho. Remembering the young entrepreneur, he described him as “a courageous young man, who was very kind to his employees and everyone around him. He had the whole world in front of him.”
Sri Vembu also talked about the adventurous spirit of Sri Ram. “He was a risk taker. I am too, but even at his age, I would analyze the risks and reject paragliding in Kullu as accident-prone,” he wrote. The 57-year-old warned other young people to “avoid such bad risks”.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the pilot attempted a 360 degree turn, which led to the collision. While the second glider managed to stabilize, Sri Ram collapsed, resulting in his fall. “The victim’s family has been informed about the incident,” Kullu sub-divisional magistrate Vikas Shukla said in a statement to The Indian Express. Magisterial inquiry has been ordered.
Sridhar Vembu urged regulators to “consider this thoroughly”, saying, “I hope his death will not be in vain.”
Seven paragliders, including foreigners, have died in Himachal Pradesh in the last 18 months. Paragliding in Gadsa was banned in January 2023 due to safety reasons, but it was reopened a month later.
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