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New Delhi: An FIR has been filed against two builders after a 27-year-old software engineer allegedly drowned when his car crashed into a roadside drain and plunged into a waterlogged basement of an under-construction building in Greater Noida’s Sector 150 early on Saturday.
Police said the builders, who own the project, have been booked for causing death by negligence.
“On the complaint of the deceased’s father, a case at Knowledge Park police station under sections 105 (culpable homicide), 106 (causing death by negligence) and 125 (act endangering life) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was registered against the two builders who own the plot,” Hemant Upadhyay, ACP, Greater Noida, told HT.
The victim has been identified as Yuvraj Mehta, a software engineer employed in Gurugram. Police said Mehta was driving a Grand Vitara when he reportedly lost control of the vehicle while taking a turn. The car struck the boundary wall of a drain and fell into a basement filled with rainwater at the construction site.
Emergency services, including teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the state disaster response force and the fire department, were mobilised around midnight. After hours of search operations, Mehta’s body was recovered, police said.
Friends and family members of the deceased have alleged a delay in the rescue response. “The rescue teams arrived only by 2.30am and could not even enter the water till 3.20am,” Pankaj, a friend of the deceased, told HT.
Police said preliminary findings indicate poor visibility and possible speeding as contributing factors. “They had dug a large drain, around six to seven feet wide. Due to poor visibility and high speed, the driver appears to have lost control,” Upadhyay said.
Eyewitnesses recounted Mehta’s desperate calls for help before he fell silent. His family has questioned the speed and handling of the rescue operation, which stretched for several hours.
Police, however, said that allowing untrained individuals to enter the flooded basement could have led to further casualties. Moninder, an eyewitness who works as a delivery agent and who entered the drain in an attempt to help, alleged lapses on the part of authorities.
According to Moninder, the accident took place amid dense fog around midnight, and he reached the site at about 1.45am. He said Mehta remained trapped inside the submerged car for a prolonged period. “For around one hour and forty-five minutes, he kept pleading for help, saying, ‘please save me, save me in any way possible',” Moninder told reporters.
