The SIT will be led by ADG Zone Meerut, with the Divisional Commissioner Meerut and the Chief Engineer of PWD also included. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered a probe into the tragic death of 27-year-old techie Yuvraj Mehta in Noida on the intervening night of January 16-17. A three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted to examine all circumstances surrounding the incident and will submit a report within 5 days.
The SIT will be headed by ADG Zone Meerut, with the Divisional Commissioner Meerut and the Chief Engineer of PWD also included. Officials said the team has been tasked with completing the investigation. The Uttar Pradesh government sacked Noida Authority CEO M Lokesh, an IAS officer of the 2005 batch from the Uttar Pradesh cadre. However, it is yet to be known whether Lokesh’s removal was directly linked to the incident.
The techie tragically lost his life after falling into a ditch on a fog-shrouded road in Sector 150, Noida. The autopsy report revealed that Yuvraj Mehta suffered asphyxia due to ante-mortem drowning, followed by cardiac arrest, leading to his death.
Mehta was returning home to Tata Eureka Park in Sector 150 from his Gurugram office late on January 16. Dense winter fog reduced visibility to near zero when his Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara veered off the road and fell into a deep, water-filled excavation pit on a vacant plot. Eyewitnesses said Yuvraj ended up in the pit due to dense fog, and he could not be saved despite the police arriving at the site.
An eyewitness, Moninder, who tried to help, said, “For around one hour and forty-five minutes, he kept pleading for help, saying, Please save me, save me in any way possible.” The father of the techie alleged that residents of Sector 150 had requested the Noida authority to install barricades and reflectors near the drain, but no action was taken.
Police said the boundary wall of the water pit was damaged in parts. However, it was unclear how the car plunged into the basement and became fully submerged. Poor visibility due to fog and speeding are being considered as factors contributing to the accident. Police added that they made every possible effort to save Yuvraj, but the rescue became difficult due to the depth of the water, darkness, and dense fog. “We were afraid that there could be more casualties if someone entered the water to rescue him. It could have been worse for us,” Hemant Upadhyay, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Greater Noida, said.
