After a frantic rescue operation, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team recovered the car of 27-year-old software engineer Yuvraj Mehta, who died after his Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara fell into a water-filled pit dug in Greater Noida near Sector 150 on the night of January 16-17.
A rescue team, using boats and divers, located Mehta’s car three days after the incident and pulled it out. A video shared by news agency PTI showed a crane lifting the car, which was completely covered in debris, including grass and tree branches.
Mehta was returning from work when his car skidded off the road in dense fog on Saturday and fell into a pit dug for the basement of an under-construction building near Sector 150. Earlier today, the Knowledge Park police arrested one of the property developers involved.
The father of the deceased is said to be negligent on the part of the authorities. The officials and staff present failed to save him. They had no divers,” Yuvraj’s father Rajkumar Mehta told ANI. He claimed that his son was alive in the water for nearly two hours and was “desperately calling for help even as people gathered around the spot were shooting videos.”
A delivery man who tried to save the 27-year-old claimed that rescuers were initially reluctant to enter the water due to the cold and poor visibility, adding that early intervention could have saved Mehta.
Mehta’s body was found after more than five hours of search operation.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath reacted immediately to the incident, ordering the formation of a three-member SIT and directing that the report be submitted within five days. The Uttar Pradesh government had earlier removed the director general of the Noida office, M. Lokesh. On the instructions of the Chief Minister, an SIT, headed by the Divisional Commissioner, Meerut, was constituted to investigate the matter.
