Before techie Yuvraj Mehta's death in Noida, truck driver recalls he had close shave at same spot: ‘Cops did nothing’

As the Noida techie death incident sparked accusations of negligence, delayed rescue operations, and protests by local residents, a truck driver, Gurvinder Singh, who survived an accident at the same spot two weeks earlier where software engineer Yuvraj Mehta died, highlighted the helplessness of the police, claiming they “did nothing” after he plunged into neck-deep water, according to an NDTV report.

He reportedly said that the drain and the ditch were hardly 10 steps away from the road and lacked any signboards or barricades. According to him, the truck hit the drain wall and went beyond it, leaving the front tyres suspended in the air while the middle ones got stuck on the wall. He added that he jumped out of the truck and fell into neck-deep water.

Gurvinder mentioned he sustained internal injuries and has been stammering ever since the traumatic incident.

"I fell into the ditch around 12.30. Around 4 am, some local residents helped me out. Two cops came around two hours after I had fallen, but they did nothing. If the district administration wanted, an excavator could have been brought immediately," the report quoted Singh as saying.

He further alleged that a team from the Noida authority arrived around noon and asked who would bear the cost of the damaged wall, stating that he told them he had only just survived the incident.

He said he has been a driver for two decades now.

“We get to know if the wheels have overshot the road. As soon as I realised what had happened, I pulled the handbrake. Still, the truck hit the wall. This is my second life. Guruji saved me,” he stated.

Singh claimed, “This man died. Who knows how many more people would die? There is no barricade or signboard there. The administration is responsible. If the administration wanted, an excavator would have come in minutes.”

Taking note of the incident, CM Yogi Adityanath ordered the formation of a three-member SIT to probe the circumstances surrounding Mehta’s death. An FIR has also been lodged against two real estate developers for death due to negligence.

In addition to the SIT investigation, Adityanath directed officials to identify accident-prone spots across Uttar Pradesh and ensure that corrective steps are implemented without delay. He stressed that all necessary measures should be taken to prevent similar incidents from occurring anywhere in the state.

The chief minister also conveyed his condolences to the bereaved family, the statement said.

Mehta’s father, Raj Kumar, has accused local authorities of negligence and called for accountability to be fixed so that “no one else loses their son like this” in the future.