On a foggy Friday night, a 27-year-old software engineer, Yuvraj Mehta, tragically died after his car plunged into a water-filled ditch in Greater Noida. Moninder, a delivery agent, recounts his desperate attempt to rescue the techie from the pit. The incident has sparked outrage and raised concerns about road safety, delayed emergency response, and negligence.
Yuvraj Mehta was returning home to Tata Eureka Park in Sector 150 after work in Gurugram when the accident occurred around midnight. Due to dense fog and poor visibility, his Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara reportedly jumped a roadside drain and fell into an excavation pit on a vacant plot. The pit, approximately 50 feet deep and filled with rainwater, lacked barricades or reflective warnings, making it a deadly trap.
Moninder, a Flipkart delivery agent, arrived at the scene around 1:45 am while delivering an order. He heard cries for help and saw Mehta trapped inside the submerged car, holding a torch and shouting for assistance. Moninder alleged that emergency responders hesitated to enter the water due to the cold temperature and the presence of iron rods.
Seeing the urgency of the situation and the hesitation of others, Moninder decided to take action. "I tied a rope around my waist and went into the water myself. I searched for the youth and his car for around 30 minutes," Moninder told reporters. He swam nearly 50 meters into the drain, guided only by the faint torchlight. Despite his courageous efforts, Mehta had already died by the time Moninder reached the car.
According to eyewitnesses and family members, Mehta survived for nearly an hour after the crash, repeatedly calling for help and trying to signal to passers-by as his car slowly submerged. Mehta even called his father, Raj Kumar Mehta, in panic, saying, "I don't want to die". Raj Kumar Mehta rushed to the spot and could hear his son's cries but could not locate the vehicle due to the fog.
Moninder believes that faster and more decisive rescue efforts could have made a difference. He claimed that Mehta was initially standing on the roof of his car. Moninder stated he was later told that "if help had reached 10 minutes earlier, the techie could have been saved".
The police have rejected allegations of negligence, stating that fire department teams made efforts to save Mehta and deployed a crane, ladder, makeshift boat, and searchlights. However, they admitted that visibility was near zero due to the fog. According to the Knowledge Park police station, they received information about the incident around 12:15 am. After a search operation lasting over five hours, the body was recovered on Saturday morning with the help of teams from the fire department, SDRF, NDRF, and local police.
The incident has led to official action, including the police booking property dealers and the Noida Authority terminating a junior engineer and issuing show-cause notices to officers responsible for traffic-related work in the area. An FIR has been registered against the two builders who own the plot, under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 304A (causing death by negligence), and 288 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down or repairing buildings) of the Indian Penal Code.
