Noida: Two more arrested for death of software engineer whose car fell into pit

The Greater Noida Police on Thursday arrested two more builders in connection with the death of a 27-year-old software engineer who drowned after his car fell into a waterlogged pit near a construction site in Sector 150 of Noida, PTI reported.

The incident had occurred on Saturday at around 12.30 am when the engineer, Yuvraj Mehta, was driving to his home in Noida from Gurgaon through dense fog, the newspaper reported. The accident took place at a point where the road takes a sharp turn.

Mehta is suspected to have driven straight ahead, causing his car to fly over a two-metre-wide drain and a low boundary wall before plunging into a 70-foot-deep water-filled pit near the construction site.

The engineer was allegedly trapped, first inside the vehicle and then outside, for nearly two hours while pleading for help before drowning, PTI reported. His car was fished out of the pit by the authorities at around 6.30 pm on Tuesday.

An unidentified police officer told PTI that those arrested on Thursday have been identified as Ravi Bansal, a resident of Faridabad, and Sachin Karnwal, a resident of Ghaziabad.

Another officer told The Indian Express that Bansal and Karanwal were office-bearers at Lotus Greens Constructions Private Limited, a real estate company linked to the site where the accident took place, and also held shares in the plot.

On Sunday, the Greater Noida Police registered a first information report against Lotus Greens Constructions Private Limited and another real estate company also linked to the plot, MZ Wiztown Planners Private Limited.

In a statement, the police had earlier said that “on the intervening night of January 16 and 17, a car driver, Yuvraj Mehta (27), died after drowning in a waterlogged plot due to alleged negligence on the part of the builder and its associates at a construction site of Lotus Greens”, PTI reported.

However, a spokesperson for Lotus Greens Construction had issued a statement saying that the company had “no role to play because the said plot was transferred in 2019-20 to… [another company] with the approval of the Noida Authority”.

On Tuesday, Abhay Kumar, a promoter at MZ Wiztown Planners, was arrested and sent to six days’ judicial custody a day later after the court directed police to investigate the drain lapses, The Indian Express reported.

Kumar, however, has maintained that the plot was sold to them by Lotus Greens Construction and was already excavated in 2020.

“However, the Noida Authority withheld commencement permission, paralysing the project,” the newspaper quoted him as claiming. Kumar had also said that the land allotted to him was part of the Sports City Project and the project was halted.

A case of culpable homicide, causing death by negligence and an act endangering life was also filed against the two companies on Monday.

On Wednesday, the police filed a separate FIR in connection with the case and booked five named officials of the two companies, charging them with violating environmental and pollution norms, besides negligence at the construction site, PTI reported.

The Uttar Pradesh government has also formed a special investigation team to probe the matter.

NGT takes suo motu cognisance of incident

On Thursday, the National Green Tribunal took suo motu cognisance of the incident based on a news report published by Times of India on Tuesday, Bar and Bench reported.

A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava, along with expert member A Senthil Vel, observed that the matter prima facie indicated a violation of the 1986 Environment Protection Act and failures in taking corrective steps by authorities that contributed to the incident.

“The news item raises substantial issues relating to compliance with the environmental norms and implementation of the provisions of scheduled enactment,” Bar and Bench quoted the tribunal as noting.

The incident also raised environmental concerns linked to stormwater management and regulatory compliance, it added. The tribunal sought responses from the Uttar Pradesh goverment and the authorities in Noida.