Noida Techie’s Tragic Death: Builder Arrested Over Unsafe Excavation Pit In Greater Noida

Police in Gautam Buddh Nagar have arrested a real estate developer in connection with the death of a 27-year-old software engineer whose car plunged into a water-filled excavation pit in Sector 150 of Greater Noida. The arrest came days after the incident, which sparked widespread anger over alleged negligence, lack of safety measures and delayed rescue efforts.

The victim, Yuvraj Mehta, was returning home from his workplace in Gurugram late Saturday night when the accident occurred. Due to dense fog and poor visibility, his car reportedly went out of control at a sharp 90-degree turn, broke through a low boundary wall and fell into a deep pit dug on a vacant plot. The pit, believed to have been excavated for a building’s basement, was filled with rainwater and estimated to be over 20 feet deep, with some assessments suggesting it could be as deep as 50 feet.

Crucially, the site had no barricades, warning signs, reflective markers or other mandatory safety arrangements, despite being located close to a public road. Investigators said these lapses played a major role in the fatal accident.

After the vehicle fell into the pit, Mehta managed to climb onto the roof of his partially submerged car and called his father, pleading for help. He remained stranded for nearly 90 minutes, during which repeated appeals for rescue were allegedly met with delays and inadequate response. By the time he was finally pulled out, he had died.

An autopsy later confirmed that Mehta died due to asphyxia caused by ante-mortem drowning, followed by cardiac arrest. The findings intensified public outrage and renewed questions about accountability, emergency response failures and unchecked construction practices in the region.

The builder, identified as Abhay Kumar, was taken into custody by Knowledge Park Police based on confidential inputs and manual intelligence, according to the Gautam Buddh Nagar Police Commissionerate. An FIR had earlier been registered against two real estate developers for criminal negligence, citing the absence of basic safety infrastructure at the excavation site.

The case has also drawn attention to previous near-misses at the same location. Reports have emerged that a truck driver narrowly escaped a similar accident at the pit just weeks before Mehta’s death, suggesting that the danger was known but left unaddressed.

Authorities have since ordered probes into the incident, while civic bodies and state officials face mounting pressure to enforce stricter safety norms at construction sites and ensure that such tragedies are not repeated.