Noida Sector 150 drowning: Builder arrested over techie’s death

Additional commissioner of police (law and order), Gautam Budh Nagar, confirmed the arrest of builder Kumar, a resident of Commonwealth Games village in Delhi

Police arrested a builder on Tuesday days after 27-year-old software engineer Yuvraj Mehta allegedly died after his car plunged into a water-filled pit of a vacant under-construction plot in Noida’s Sector 150.

After six hours, the car was eventually fished out of the plot around 6:30 pm. Police said that a sonar system was initially used, but when it failed, a team of NDRF scuba divers manually located the vehicle and pulled it out by placing a chain on the rear hook. (HT Photos)

MZ Wiztown Planner Pvt Ltd promoter Abhay Kumar was arrested from the Sector 150 area, police said.

This comes after police on Sunday filed a case of culpable homicide against developers Lotus Greens Construction Pvt Ltd and MZ Wiztown Planners Pvt Ltd under sections 105 (culpable homicide), 106 (causing death by negligence) and 125 (act endangering life) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Earlier, the firms named in the FIR offered conflicting defences.

A spokesperson of Lotus Greens had said it had “no role to play in the incident because the said plot was transferred in 2019-20”.

Abhay Kumar, promoter of MZ Wiztown Planners, alleged he received the land already excavated and was never granted permission to commence work. He portrayed himself as a minority director, stating shares were controlled by a lender to Lotus Greens, and cited multiple pending court cases involving the land. “It is completely a case of an accident and an unfortunate incident,” Kumar said, adding he had previously complained to the Authority about broken drainage lines contributing to waterlogging.

He further said, “A team of the NDRF also visited the spot on Tuesday to locate the car in the water-filled plot.”

After six hours, the car was eventually fished out of the plot around 6:30 pm. Police said that a sonar system was initially used, but when it failed, a team of NDRF scuba divers manually located the vehicle and pulled it out by placing a chain on the rear hook.

A senior police officer, requesting anonymity, said, “Twenty-two NDRF experts, including divers with technical equipment, tried to locate the car from 12 pm. After three to four hours of effort, they finally managed to find the vehicle.”

The officer added, “Due to depth, mud and waste material, it is hard to work in the water-filled plot. Firefighters also tried late Friday night to reach the vehicle using a makeshift boat, but due to bushes inside the water, it was difficult to move even an inch.”

The victim, Yuvraj Mehta, 27, died in the early hours of Saturday after his car plunged into a deep, waterlogged excavation pit on a vacant plot in Sector 150. Mehta, a software engineer, was returning home from his office in Gurugram when he reportedly lost control of his vehicle in dense fog, broke through a low boundary at a sharp 90-degree turn, and fell into the pit.

According to investigators and eyewitness accounts, Mehta managed to climb onto the roof of his partially submerged car and called his father for help. Police, firefighters, and teams from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) from Ghaziabad and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) reached the site, but rescue efforts failed to save him. For nearly 90 minutes, Mehta remained trapped, calling for help as his vehicle slowly sank. By the time he could be pulled out, he had died.