Shah and his president Vishwanath Raju Datla were hanging in a metal cage over 20 feet high. "Shah and Raju were coming down from the cage to the stage... it was a stunt to start the party."

But as they were coming down, one of the two wires holding the cage broke, and both men fell 15 feet and smashed onto the concrete stage in front of 700 shocked guests. Local cops said, per the paper,

"There was music playing and Shah and Raju were waving to their staff as they fell."

Shah died of his injuries in hospital after the crash, The Times of India said, while Datla, 52, who got a bad head injury, is still fighting for his life.

The Vistex flag at the firm's Hoffman Estates office is now at half-mast and officials are looking into the accident per a CBS station in India.

Vistex is a business software outfit with 20 offices around the world and more than 2,000 workers, and works with big names like GM, Barilla, and Bayer. Shah set up the firm in 1999.