Don’t want to die: Techie’s last words to father before he drowned
Screamed for help for nearly two hours standing atop his car; 2 builders booked
It was not Yuvraj Mehta's time to die. He was young and brimming with hopes from life. But that was not to be. The 27-year-old software engineer drowned to death after his car hit a drainage boundary at an under-construction site and plunged into a 70-feet-deep ditch.
The tragedy struck in the early hours of Saturday when Yuvraj was returning home from his Gurugram office.
Dense fog, absence of reflectors on the road and unprepared rescue agencies - everything ominous blended in the dark moments to snuff out a precious life.
Before he drowned, after waiting and screaming for help for nearly two hours, Yuvraj called his father, Raj Kumar Mehta, and said, "Please save me papa. I don't want to die."
An inconsolable Raj Kumar Mehta today recounted his son's harrowing last moments and how he called him to inform about the accident. The stunned father immediately rang up emergency number 112 and rushed to the spot.
The police personnel, fire brigade and State Disaster Relief Force teams reached around 1 am. The techie kept pleading for help for nearly two hours standing on the roof of his car.
But cops, firefighters and SDRF members could not rescue him. An NDRF team was also called in from Ghaziabad but by the time it arrived, Yuvraj and his car had submerged completely.
NDRF personnel later took nearly two hours to retrieve the body from the water-filled pit.
Rescue efforts were delayed as the three emergency agencies lacked necessary resources required for a rescue operation. Local divers tried to enter the pit, but returned after a short distance due to cold water, presence of iron rods and the depth of the basement.
The victim's father, meanwhile, kept pleading for his son to be saved. But to no avail.
Munendra Kumar, an eyewitness, said the police, fire brigade and SDRF personnel refrained from entering the water due to extreme cold conditions, presence of iron rods and the depth of the pit.
A delivery executive, Munendra, said he reached the spot around 1 am and saw Yuvraj standing on the roof of his car, crying for help. He said some individuals later tied ropes around their waists and entered the water. They searched for the youth for around 30 minutes, but to no avail. Based on a complaint filed by Yuvraj's father, a case has been registered against two builders, who own the project, for causing death by negligence.
"On the complaint of the father of the deceased, a case under Sections 105 (culpable homicide), 106 (causing death by negligence) and 125 (act endangering life) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been registered against the two builders at the Knowledge Park police station," said Hemant Upadhyay, ACP, Greater Noida.
