E-Paper
Delivery agent tied rope around waist and jumped into water-filled pit to save Noida techie
Moninder, the delivery agent, had reached the spot around 1.45 am, and decided to enter the pit himself when he saw hesitation among responders.
The death of a 27-year-old software engineer after his car fell into a water-filled ditch in Greater Noida has set off a chain of official action — from police booking property dealers to the Noida Authority terminating a junior engineer and issuing show-cause notices to officers responsible for traffic-related work in the area. Even as these steps were taken after the incident, questions continue to be raised over the response on the ground during the critical hours when the young man was still alive.
According to eyewitnesses and family members, the techie survived for nearly an hour after the crash on a foggy Friday night, repeatedly calling for help and trying to signal to passers-by as his car slowly submerged. A delivery agent, identified as Moninder, who was present at the site said that faster and more decisive rescue efforts during that window could have made a difference.
Delivery agent jumps in
Moninder had reached the spot around 1.45 am, and decided to enter the pit himself when he saw hesitation among responders. “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.
Also Read | Noida techie death | ‘Water too cold, there are iron rods’: Witnesses allege police inaction
He added that he was later told that “if help had reached 10 minutes earlier, the techie could have been saved”.
According to him, Mehta was initially standing on the roof of his car. Moninder alleged that emergency responders present at the site refused to enter the water, citing the cold temperature.
“The police were present at the spot, along with the SDRF (UP's State Disaster Response Force). Fire brigade personnel were also there. But no one helped him. They were saying, ‘The water is too cold. We won’t go inside. There are iron rods inside. We won’t go’,” he said.
“The boy had drowned about 10 minutes before I reached. I told them (rescuers) to come out and said I would go inside. They came out. I took off my clothes, tied a rope around my waist, and went at least 50 metres inside the water,” the delivery agent recalled.
He said he searched the flooded pit for nearly half an hour but could not find the car or the victim.
“Even by 5:30 in the morning, neither the boy had been recovered nor the vehicle brought out. After that, I went back home,” he added.
Also Read | Builders booked, official sacked after techie drowns in Noida pit
Moninder also pointed out that the same ditch had earlier seen another accident, in which locals rescued a truck driver using ropes and a ladder.
How Greater Noida techie ended up in the ditch
The victim, Yuvraj Mehta, was returning home to Tata Eureka Park in Sector 150 after work in Gurugram when his Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara reportedly jumped a roadside drain and fell into an excavation pit on a vacant plot around midnight.
The pit, according to police and the FIR, was around 50 feet deep, filled with rainwater and had no barricades or reflective warnings.
Mehta managed to climb onto the roof of the partially submerged car and called his father, Raj Kumar Mehta, in panic.
Also Read | ‘Papa, I am stuck’: What Noida techie told father before drowning in ditch after car crash
“I spoke to him shortly before the accident. He told me he was on his way home,” the father said.
“A little later, he called again in panic and said his car had met with an accident and fallen into a drain. He asked me to come immediately.”
As fog reduced visibility, Mehta tried to make himself visible. His father said his son even switched on the torchlight of his phone when he called again because those searching could not locate him. “Don’t panic, we are trying to help you,” the father recalled telling him.
Police say rescue efforts were sincere
Police officials, however, rejected allegations of negligence. Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Rajeev Narayan Mishra said teams from the police and fire department made efforts to save Mehta using a crane, ladder, makeshift boat and searchlights, but visibility was near zero due to dense fog, reported news agency PTI.
Earlier while talking to HT, Assistant Commissioner of Police Hemant Upadhyay said the depth of the water and darkness made the operation risky.
“We made all efforts to rescue him, but due to the depth of the water collected in the under-construction vacant plot, it was difficult to save him in the darkness and dense fog. We were afraid that there could be more casualties if someone entered the water to rescue him. It could have been worse for us,” he said.
A police officer involved in the operation said ropes thrown fell short and ladders and cranes could not bridge the distance between the road and the pit. For nearly 90 minutes, Mehta remained on top of the car until it sank completely.
“Due to dense fog, the NDRF took time to reach from Ghaziabad. Eventually, his body was recovered using a boat,” the officer said.
PMeanwhile, olice on Sunday filed a case of culpable homicide against two real estate companies. The Noida Authority also terminated a junior engineer from the Noida Traffic Cell and issued show-cause notices to officials and staff responsible for traffic-related work in the area.
