Days after a 27-year-old software engineer died after his car fell into a water-filled pit at a construction site in Noida’s Sector 150, the Uttar Pradesh government has initiated administrative and investigative action to fix accountability of unfortunate incident. The Noida Authority’s Chief Executive Officer, M Lokesh (IAS:2005:UP), has been removed from his post and placed on a waiting list, while Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the incident.
A three-member SIT has been constituted to examine the circumstances leading to the fatal accident. The team will be headed by the Additional Director General (ADG), Meerut Zone, with the Meerut Divisional Commissioner and the Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD) as members. The SIT has been directed to submit its report to the Chief Minister within five days.
The accident took place late Friday night when Yuvraj Mehta, a Noida-based software engineer employed with a private firm in Gurugram, was returning home amid dense fog. Police said his car veered off the road and plunged into a waterlogged pit after breaking through a damaged boundary wall at an under-construction site around 12.30 am.
Preliminary accounts indicate that after the car fell into the pit, Mehta managed to climb onto the roof of the partially submerged vehicle and repeatedly shouted for help. His family has alleged that he remained trapped in the water for nearly two hours. During this period, they claim, there was no timely rescue response and trained divers were not deployed at the site. In a complaint filed with the police, Yuvraj’s father, Raj Kumar Mehta, alleged gross administrative negligence.
In his police complaint, Yuvraj’s father, Raj Kumar Mehta, pointed to a combination of factors that, he said, led to the accident — thick fog, a broken boundary wall and the absence of basic safety arrangements at the construction site. He maintained that his son could have been saved if help had reached the spot in time.
Speaking later, Mehta said people in the area had heard his son shouting for help after the car fell into the pit, but no organised rescue followed. “He was alive for a long time. People were there, but there was no system, no divers, nothing. The officials who came did not know what to do,” he said, alleging serious lapses on the part of the authorities.
A local resident who entered the drain around 1.45 am in an attempt to locate the victim also questioned the response, saying there was confusion at the site and no clear coordination among agencies.
The post-mortem report stated that Yuvraj Mehta died due to drowning. The death has sparked anger among residents and brought renewed focus on safety lapses at construction sites in Noida. Officials in the Uttar Pradesh Home Department said further action would be decided after the Special Investigation Team submits its report.
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