Noida techie crash: Water-filled pit visible in satellite images since 2021

Noida: Satellite images on Google Earth show that a large water body began appearing from late 2021 at the Sector 150 plot where a 27-year-old software engineer drowned after a car accident, with the excavation remaining submerged and unsecured for over three years despite surrounding road and infrastructure development.

Returning home from Gurugram, 27-year-old Yuvraj Mehta met with the accident around 12.15 am on January 17 when his car broke through a roadside drain and fell into the deep, waterlogged pit on Plot A-3 of Sports City's Plot No. 2.

A few days earlier, a truck had also crashed at the same location, though the driver survived, according to locals who alleged negligence by local authorities in failing to install barricades and warning signage at the spot.

Gurvinder Singh, the truck driver injured in the earlier incident, said the accident occurred on the night of January 2 amid dense fog and he remained trapped at the site for nearly four hours before being rescued.

Speaking to NDTV, Singh said he sustained internal injuries, which have left him with difficulty in speaking.

He said two police personnel reached the spot hours later and rescued him.

Asked whether proper barricading and signage could have prevented his accident as well as the crash that claimed Mehta's life, Singh said barricades at the T-point, where vehicles turn right, could have averted the incidents.

"Had barricades been put up at the T-point where vehicles take a right turn, we would have been saved and the accident would not have happened," Singh told the news channel.

A review of Google Earth images from April 2009 to March 2025, as seen by PTI, shows the land was under agriculture until at least 2015, with crop patterns and irrigation lines clearly visible. No large water body appears in satellite imagery until November 2021.

In 2016-17, following approval of the Sports City project, vegetation was cleared and the land use began to change.

According to Noida Authority officials, the accident site is Plot A-3, carved out after the subdivision of Sports City Plot No. 2 by the lead developer, Lotus Green. The 27,185-square-metre plot, designated for commercial use, was subsequently taken over by MZ Wiztown Planners in 2021.

A commercial building plan was initially sanctioned. However, approval for a revised, mall-like structure was later sought by MZ Wiztown.

The authority rejected the proposal in May 2022, saying that only shops related to sports activities and food and beverage outlets were permissible under the approved layout, according to official documents.

After the rejection, construction at the site was halted. Despite the plot's prime corner location, with wide roads on two sides, the excavated basement was left open and unbarricaded.

Satellite images from November 2021, following that year's monsoon, for the first time show a large water body emerging at the site. In subsequent years, images show stagnant dark water, algae growth and partially submerged construction material, indicating prolonged abandonment.

The most recent Google Earth image from March 2025 shows the pit still intact, filled with water and surrounded by overgrowth, while the adjoining roads appear fully developed.

According to locals, the uncovered pit -- fed by rainwater and drains and lying just off a well-developed road with no barricades and an almost 90-degree turn -- had become a serious hazard long before the crash that claimed Mehta's life.

"There was no barricading or reflective signage around the plot, which led to the accident. It shows gross negligence on the part of the planners and developers," Raj Kumar Gupta, the techie's father, had said earlier, demanding accountability and action to ensure "nobody else loses their son like this".

On Tuesday, police arrested Abhay Kumar, director of MZ Wiztown, one of the two accused developers, following a complaint by the deceased engineer's father, officials said.

The FIR has been 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), along with other relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).