A representative image of trucks.
Credit: PTI Photo
Noida: Days before a 27-year-old software engineer drowned after his car plunged into a deep, water-filled pit in Noida's Sector 150, a truck driver had narrowly escaped death at the same site, an ordeal that he said still haunts him as he demanded criminal action, including invoking of murder charges, against developers and local authorities.
The accident that claimed the life of software engineer Yuvraj Mehta (27) triggered protests and anguished questions from residents and the victim's family, who alleged that poor road design, lack of signage, reflectors and barricades, and negligence of authorities had turned the stretch into a death trap.
It was a tragedy that could have been averted had authorities taken corrective action after Gurvinder Singh's truck met with an accident on January 2 at the same location, where the road takes a sharp 90-degree turn.
Speaking to PTI Videos on Wednesday, Singh recalled that dense fog, absence of barricades, reflectors, lights or warning signs made the stretch extremely hazardous.
"I survived that night, but only by luck and the grace of God," Singh said, his voice choking as he spoke about Mehta's death. "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?" Singh alleged that after his accident, a man who arrived in a Baleno car and claimed to be a Noida Authority official demanded money from him. "I kept saying my life has just been saved, isn't that more important?" he said.
He also claimed 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.
Recounting the night of the crash, Singh said visibility was near zero due to heavy fog. "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 said.
"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.
Referring to Mehta's death, Singh demanded strict legal action. "This is not an accident; it is negligence that amounts to killing. A case under 302 (now BNS 103 for murder) 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.
Yuvraj Mehta, who worked in Gurugram, was returning home when his car fell into a water-filled pit near a construction site on the night of January 16. He died after frantically pleading for help for around two hours.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday removed the Noida Authority CEO and ordered a probe by SIT into the techie's death, amid mounting outrage over the incident and allegations of official and developer negligence. 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 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 106 (causing death by negligence) and 125 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) and other relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, police said.