In Sector 150 of Greater Noida, a sharp 90-degree turn skirts a plot filled with water. A 2-foot-high wall runs along the periphery of the plot, offering only a thin barricade. In the background, high-rise structures with gates too high to climb loom over the stretch. In the National Capital Region’s January weather, the smog makes everything grey.
On January 16, what should have been a routine drive home turned fatal for Yuvraj Mehta. Returning from his workplace in Gurugram, about 60 km away, and just metres from his apartment in Eureka Park, his car veered off the road at this sharp turn and plunged into the water-filled pit.
“My son fought for his life for two hours as emergency response teams stood watching,” Yuvraj’s father Rajkumar told the media. Rajkumar recounted how his son had survived the initial impact. “He had managed to open his car door and call me from his phone. I rushed to the spot. At first, I did not know where to go, so I called him again. He told me he had fallen into a ditch near our home. So I went back. When I reached, I couldn’t see him; the fog was too dense. Then he switched on his phone’s torchlight,” he told the media, the day after the incident.
A couple of hours later, Yuvraj’s body was recovered from the muddy water. “My son could have been saved had the rescue teams acted on time,” Rajkumar said.
The post-mortem found that he had had a cardiac arrest and died by asphyxia due to drowning. His family performed his last rites in Haridwar, a holy place for the Hindus, where the river Ganga flows.
NDRF teams retrieve Yuvraj Mehta’s car from the water-filled pit at the Greater Noida construction site.
| Photo Credit:
ANI
On January 21, a day after his son’s funeral, Rajkumar shut his doors to the world. Outside the gated Eureka Park society, journalists waited, pleaded, and were turned away. “Unki maansik stithi theek nahi hai. Wo ab kisi se nahi milna chahte,” (His mental state is not ok. He now does not want to meet anyone), a guard says in Hindi.
Fog and fright
That night, it wasn’t just Rajkumar who stood on the curb. “I heard someone shouting ‘Bachao bachao!’ (Help, help!). I realised someone had fallen into the water,” says the man, asking for his name to be left out. “I called the police at 12:14 (a.m.), and a PCR (police control room) van reached the spot about six minutes later,” he says. He adds that men from the Uttar Pradesh police force tried to step into the water, but could not do much. “They sent a message to the fire brigade, which reached the spot at 1:30 (a.m.),” he adds.
By that time, Yuvraj had managed to get out of his car and had climbed onto its roof, his phone’s feeble torchlight keeping hope alive. “He kept screaming for help, calling out to his father to come and save him. Finally, he said, ‘I cannot hear you anymore. Water is getting into my ears’,” recounts the passerby, who stood and watched until Yuvraj drowned.
Three days later, describing the scene at the site, a police constable says, “The pond that you see today seemed like an ocean then. The fog was so dense, I couldn’t see the person standing next to me.”
Moninder Singh, an e-commerce delivery agent, was also passing by. He says he volunteered to enter the water because no one else knew how to swim. “Taking permission from the police, I tied the rope around my body, put on the life jacket, and went into the water. I searched for about half an hour, but couldn’t find him,” he says. “The police and the firemen refused to do anything. They were saying the water was too cold; it was foggy,” he adds.
As people began to gather at the site, some pulled out their phones to make videos. These would later do the social media rounds. The visuals that later went viral showed a policeman wearing a life jacket cautiously wading into the water. Yuvraj’s torchlight could still be seen flickering in the distance, but the policeman did not venture more than a few feet in.
The State Disaster Response Force team reached the spot at about 3:45 a.m., and the National Disaster Response Force around 4:15 a.m., say observers. Yuvraj’s body was recovered from the site after a long search operation by the NDRF. As the news of his death spread, people were outraged. They had many questions, all directed at the police, the fire brigade, rescue teams, and the Uttar Pradesh government.
Responding to the allegations, a senior police official says, “It is not that we were not ready. The fog was too dense; visibility was almost zero.”
On January 18, Yuvraj’s father filed a complaint at the Knowledge Park police station, citing negligence on the part of the Noida Authority and the heads of M/S Wiztown Planners, the owners of the plot; and Lotus Greens, the original owners, both real-estate companies.
The FIR was registered under charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, causing death by negligence, and an act endangering the life or personal safety of others.
Light and dark
Online, public outrage built, with people recounting tales of how they had been stranded in similar situations but had been saved in time; offline, journalists, politicians, residents, and the odd passerby, stopped at the site.
A truck driver, Gurvinder Singh, says that on December 31, 2025, “My truck climbed the 2-foot boundary wall and was stranded in mid-air. I was terrified that I might fall into the water. But thankfully, I managed to open the door and jump out,” he says. The police helped retrieve the truck with a crane. It has been daytime.
The 90-degree turn has witnessed several accidents in the past, say residents of the area. “First of all, there are no street lights in the whole area. There are no traffic signals, no boards or signage, forget about reflectors and fog lights,” says Deepika Sharma, a resident in an apartment block complex nearby.
Disturbed by the incident, Kamini, another resident, held back her tears, saying she could have been in Yuvraj’s place. “Just a few days ago, my scooter almost fell into a similar ditch nearby,” she says. “The entire area is like this. I was coming back from Kondli market, which is just 10 minutes away from my home. As I was riding the scooter, the fog suddenly descended. Within seconds, I realised I had ridden off the road. I saw a car ahead of me had half fallen into a pool of water up ahead,” she says.
“Residents of Eureka Park society had repeatedly complained to the Noida Authority about waterlogging and the absence of barricades, but no action was taken,” says Kranti Sharma, a resident in another society nearby.
Outside the gates of the apartment block where the Mehtas lived is a banner that asks for “Justice for Yuvraj”, saying, “Who is accountable for a young life lost?” Below his photograph is a line in a black banner: “No development no vote.”
Action after inaction
Amid public outrage, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Additional Director General (ADG) Meerut, Bhanu Bhaskar; with Meerut Divisional Commissioner, Hrishikesh Bhaskar; and PWD Chief Engineer, Ajay Verma as members. The SIT was asked to submit its report within five days.
Meanwhile, police arrested Abhay Kumar, CEO of real estate firm M/S Wiztown Planners, which owned the plot where Yuvraj drowned. The State government also removed Lokesh M. as CEO of the Noida Authority. Before his removal, Lokesh had ordered the termination of a junior engineer and issued show-cause notices to other officials. On January 22, two more builders linked to Wiztown Planners and Lotus Greens were arrested, and the SIT revisited the site to recreate the sequence of events.
In 2025, the Allahabad High Court had ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into a ₹9,000-crore land transfer scam, which included this property.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, shared a video related to the incident on X, highlighting the lack of accountability on the part of the government.
The BJP leader and Gautam Buddh Nagar MP Mahesh Sharma expressed sorrow over the incident and said that it is a matter of concern that despite all the systems in place, the man could not be saved.
Politicians pointed out the U.P. government’s inaction against the District Magistrate of Noida, Medha Roopam, as the State rescue and disaster management authorities (SDRF and District Disaster Management Authority) come under her administration. Social media was rife with details about her being the Chief Election Commissioner’s daughter. After public pressure she visited the spot four days later.
On January 22, the National Green Tribunal held the Noida Authority responsible for environmental violations, seeking an explanation on how the site had turned into a stagnant pond due to unchecked rainwater and wastewater accumulation. It noted that a stormwater management plan proposed in 2015, including diverting excess water into the Hindon River, was never implemented despite surveys and funding, leading to chronic water-logging.
The Uttar Pradesh police and administration did not respond to calls.
shrimansi.kaushik@thehindu.co.in
Edited by Sunalini Mathew
