Earlier today, a real estate developer was arrested by the Knowledge Park Police in connection with the case. Days after a techie died after his car plunged into a water-filled excavation pit, chilling details have emerged around the incident. The victim, 27-year-old software engineer Yuvraj Mehta, drowned after his vehicle fell into the pit in Sector 150 of Greater Noida on Saturday. The pit had been dug for the constructing the basement of a building, was over 20 feet deep and filled with rainwater.
The incident took place when Mehta was returning from his office in Gurgaon and allegedly lost control of his vehicle due to dense fog. Earlier today, a real estate developer was arrested by the Knowledge Park Police in connection with the case.
- The car involved in the accident, a Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, was pulled out on Tuesday, a couple of days after the incident. After its retrieval, the National Disaster Response Team loaded up the vehicle in a truck. The operation to locate the car had begun earlier today.
- The victim’s family has alleged serious lapses in the handling of the rescue efforts, saying “lack of divers” cost Mehta his life. “The officials and staff present were unable to save him. They did not have any divers,” Yuvraj’s father, Rajkumar Mehta. Rajkumar alleged that his son was alive in the water for nearly two hours, and desperately called for help even as people gathered around the site were recording videos.
- The first call was made to the Police Response Vehicle (PRV) at 12.06 am on Saturday by Rajkumar Mehta, Indian Express cited an official as saying. A team of nine police officers reached by 12.30 am. Officials said calls to SDRF and NDRF, stationed in Ghaziabad were made between 1.02 am and 1.10 am, The Indian Express reported. The SDRF reached the site at 3:45 am, and the NDRF at 4.15 am.
- NOIDA authority’s CEO has been removed, a junior officer suspended, and a builder arrested in the case, Gautam Buddha Nagar MP Mahesh Sharma told reporters. “The investigation will reveal whose land it was, to whom it was allotted, and who was responsible for its maintenance. That road is in an area that is not yet a fully developed sector,” Satish Pal, Additional Chief Executive Officer of the Noida Authority.
- A couple of weeks before Mehta’s death, a similar incident took place, wherein a truck driver, Gurvinder Singh, revealed that he fell into the ditch after his truck hit the drain wall and overshot. “I jumped off the truck and landed in neck-deep water,” he told NDTV, adding that cops arrived at the spot two hours later. He was rescued at around 4 am, when local residents responded to his pleas. Singh claimed the Noida authority had asked him to pay a fine for the damage caused to the wall.
- Meanwhile, the UP irrigation department had flagged the need to drain the excess water in the pit in 2023, with the state authorities writing to the Noida authority, PTI reported. The department had directed the installation of regulators in Sector 150 to channelise the excess water into the Hindon river. However, a Noida Authority official said he was not aware of the letter.
