‘There was no ground, I slipped and fell’: Trucker recalls narrow escape at crash site where Noida techie died

Truck driver who survived earlier accident at Noida crash site demands invoking of murder charges

As uproar over 27-year-old Noida techie's death intensifies, a truck driver has come forward claiming that he narrowly escaped a crash at the same spot in Noida Sector 150 where the techie drowned in the water-filled pit of a construction site. The truck driver, still haunted by the incident, has demanded criminal action, including invoking of murder charges, against developers and local authorities.

Software engineer, Yuvraj Mehta, lost his life in a tragic incident last week after his car plunged into the pit while he was returning home from Haryana's Gurugram. (HT Photo )

Software engineer, Yuvraj Mehta, lost his life in a tragic incident last week after his car plunged into the pit while he was returning home from Haryana's Gurugram. His car reportedly skidded in dense fog, broke the drain boundary and fell into the waterlogged pit dug for the basement of an under-construction commercial complex near a drain in Sector 150 of Noida.

The accident raised several questions as locals alleged that they had approached the authorities earlier to fix the barricading around the site. Residents and the victim's family have alleged that poor road design, lack of signage, reflectors and barricades, and negligence of authorities had turned the stretch into a death trap.

Narrow escape for truck driver

The truck driver, Gurvinder Singh, had a narrow escape on January 2 when his vehicle met with an accidentat the same location, where the road takes a sharp 90-degree turn, PTI reported.

Singh said dense fog, absence of barricades, reflectors, lights or warning signs made the stretch extremely hazardous. In Mehta's case, the police also hinted at poor visibility due to dense fog as one of the key reasons for the fatal crash.

As Singh narrated the horrific crash that he survived, he said the visibility was almost zero. "There was no signage, no reflective tape, no barricading to indicate a sharp turn. My speed was slow, but the truck's cabin rolled into a pond-like water body, while the rear wheels got stuck near a drain between the road and the pit," he was quoted as saying.

"When I stepped down to see what had happened, there was no ground. I slipped and fell. Some passersby noticed and rescued me. If they hadn't come, it could have been fatal," he added. After returning home, Singh said he thanked God and his parents for their blessings. "That is why I am alive today," he said.

"I survived that night, but only by luck and the grace of God," Singh as quoted as saying.

"When I saw the videos of that young boy dying in front of his father, I cried. I kept thinking what must be going through his father's heart?"

‘Official asked for money’

Singh also alleged that after the accident, a man arrived in a Baleno car and identified himself as a Noida Authority official and demanded money from him. "I kept saying my life has just been saved, isn't that more important?" he said.

He said that while police personnel did not harass him, officials linked to the authority troubled him after the accident. "The police did their duty. If there is fault, it lies with those whose responsibility it was to make the road safe," he said.

Demand for murder charges

Demanding strict legal action those responsible for Menta's death, Singh said negligence claimed his life and murder charges should be imposed on those who are responsible. "This is not an accident; it is negligence that amounts to killing. A case under 302 should be registered against the developer who dug such a massive pit and left it exposed, and against the authority responsible for road safety," he said.

"The young man kept pleading on the phone, 'Papa, please save me, I will die.' What arrangements had the authorities made there? That question will remain," Singh said, calling for accountability so that no more lives are lost on the stretch.

Tragic death of Noida techie

Mehta was returning home when his car plunged into the water-filled pit on the night January 16. He somehow managed to get out of the car and take refuge on its roof from where he made a frantic call to his father. The father, Raj Kumar Mehta, alerted the emergency services and his friends who reached the spot. For the next two hours or so, Mehta remained stranded on top of his submerged car as his father watched from the road, helpless without resources. Police said they did not have swimmers to rescue him and by the time a passerby dared to dive into the water to save him, he had probably drowned.

The techie's death kicked up a row and the Uttar Pradesh government formed a SIT to probe the incident and removed the Noida Authority CEO amid the outrage. It had earlier terminated the services of a junior engineer of the traffic cell at the Noida Authority.

The Special Investigation Team is currently investigating the circumstances leading to the accident and has also spoken to Mehta's father.

The police, on the other hand, have arrested Abhay Kumar, the director of MZ Wiztown Planners, which owned the plot where the water was accumulated, in connection with the case.

The FIR was lodged under Sections 105 , 106 and 125 and other relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, police said.