Noida: The faint beam of a flashlight and the cries of a man surrounded by policemen and officials made 10-minute delivery executive Moninder Kumar stop near an open ditch in Noida’s Sector 150 around midnight on Saturday. Kumar was on his way to deliver the last package of the day. Instead, he parked his bike, fearing a repeat of an incident from two weeks earlier, when he had rescued a truck driver who had fallen into the same ditch.
When he saw officials unmoved by the man’s repeated pleas to save his son, Kumar did what he had done a fortnight ago: he tied a gamcha around his waist, held his nose, took the name of God, and jumped into the 30-foot-deep ditch.
“I was surprised by the excuses from the officials, who were saying there were iron rods in the water and that they didn’t know how to swim,” Kumar said, his voice heavy with anger. “I could have saved him if I had arrived a little earlier.”
Nearly two hours after his car plunged into the open pit, dug for the basement of an under-construction mall, 27-year-old Yuvraj Mehta’s body was pulled out.
I could have saved him if I had arrived a little earlier.
— Moninder Kumar, delivery executive and eyewitness
Yuvraj’s death is not an isolated accident but the outcome of years of ignored warnings, stalled construction, and absent civic safeguards in Noida’s Sector 150. As residents point to repeated complaints, prior accidents, and official inaction, the death of the software engineer has raised questions about accountability in a city governed by a development authority rather than an elected municipal corporation.
While Kumar is angry over what he calls an avoidable death and the failure of police and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel to act, Arun Bindra is consumed with guilt. Yuvraj’s father, Raj Kumar Mehta, had sent a message around midnight to his friend and neighbour, asking for help. Bindra received it only around 3 am.
“The message reached me late because the internet doesn’t work in Noida’s Sector 150. We rely on Wi-Fi at home. And if the Wi-Fi stops working, no one can reach us,” Bindra said.
On Tuesday morning, as residents gathered near the site, officials from the Noida Authority made discreet visits, leaving quickly when confronted by local people.
One of the officials, responsible for overseeing drains at the Noida Authority, was questioned about the long-pending complaints and the absence of a boundary wall or barricades.
“I look after drains, not boundary walls. The water is clean in the drain,” the official told a stunned crowd, before hurriedly getting into his car.
“But this is not a drain; it’s a stalled construction that has turned into an open sewer,” a residents shouted as the car drove away. Others screamed: “No one understands until their own dies.”
Yuvraj’s Maruti Grand Vitara remains submerged in the ditch. The open pit has since acquired a grim nickname among residents: the Khooni Naala.
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Ignored warnings
For residents of Noida’s Sector 150, the open pit had long been a known danger. Complaints went unanswered, and a 2022 letter from the Uttar Pradesh irrigation department to the Noida Authority, warning against water accumulation — reported by PTI — was ignored.
Two weeks before Yuvraj’s death, a truck driver from Punjab, Gulvinder, fell into the same ditch. As in Yuvraj’s case, police officials present at the site stood there unmoved until Moninder Kumar arrived and pulled the driver out. On several occasions, residents say, motorcyclists have also fallen in but survived because they knew how to swim.
Now, Yuvraj’s death has opened a can of worms, exposing a chain of civic and infrastructural failures in this upscale Noida neighbourhood.
Residents say this trail of negligence has gone unaddressed for over half a decade. They also allege that sewage from nearby residential apartments flows into the pit, turning the water toxic. The Noida Authority has denied this claim but has not clarified the source of the stench or why construction at the site remains stalled.
The dirty naala has now become a death trap for us.
— Arun Bindra, resident of Sector 150
On Monday, the Uttar Pradesh government ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into Yuvraj’s death, directing that a report be submitted to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath within five days. Noida Authority CEO Lokesh M, an IAS officer who had been in the post since July 2023, has been removed. The Knowledge Park police station has also registered an FIR against two real estate developers – MJ Wishtown Planner Limited and Lotus Green Construction Private Limited. Media reports said the developers owe around Rs 3,000 crore to the Noida Authority.
After the death, barricades have been installed at the site, and smaller pits have been filled with sand.
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From Dirty naala to death trap
Forty-four-year-old Arun Bindra bought a flat in Eureka Towers, Sector 150, in 2021 for a little over Rs 1 crore. The open ditch, part of an under-construction mall seemed like a promising deal and a sign of future development.
“I regret every day falling for this dream,” said Bindra, standing near the pit, with high-rise towers looming over its dark green, foul-smelling water.
As construction stalled, the open area filled with water. Ducks began floating on its surface, and the stench spread through the neighbourhood. Bindra’s children would tell classmates they lived near a lake. He would correct them: it was a dirty naala.
Residents of Eureka Towers, ATS, and Eldeco approached the Noida Authority repeatedly but received only assurances. The pit was not the only problem. The road leading to Sector 150 had no functioning streetlights—another factor residents say contributed to Yuvraj’s death. There were also no reflectors or warning signs indicating a curve near the ditch.
“The dirty naala has now become a death trap for us,” Bindra said.
Rakesh Kumar, who moved from Mumbai two years ago and bought a flat in Eureka Towers, said residents make monthly visits to the Noida Authority’s Sector 6 office to raise civic issues.
“I never wanted to come here, but my wife is a government employee, so I didn’t have much of a choice,” he said. “We are living Ram ke bharose, like beggars, even after paying heavy taxes.”
Unlike Delhi or Mumbai, Noida does not have a separate municipal corporation. Civic service, from waste management to street lighting, are managed by the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA). A similar model exists in Greater Noida.
There has been a growing demand for a separate civic body. In August 2025, the Supreme Court asked the Uttar Pradesh government to consider converting the Noida Authority into a metropolitan corporation. Such a body functions like a Mahanagar Palika, with an elected mayor and a municipal commissioner.
We are living Ram ke bharose, like beggars, even after paying heavy taxes.
— Rakesh Kumar, resident of Eureka Towers, Sector 150
In the face of repeated assurances, Rakesh said, even his four-year-old son understands the danger better than the authorities.
“Whenever he’s in a cab, he tells the driver to slow down and to take a right because there is no signage. A four-year-old can see the risk, but the authorities can’t,” he said.
A protest banner demanding justice for Yuvraj hangs at the main gate of the Eureka Towers condominium. In bold red letters, it reads: “JUSTICE FOR YUVRAJ.” Below are questions in black: “Who is accountable for young life lost? Negligence took an innocent life!” The banner carries photographs of former Noida Authority CEO Lokesh M and the logo of Lotus Green Developers.
At the bottom, it reads: “Abandoned Sector 150!!! We demand answers. We demand action. No development. No vote.”
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The saviour with a moral responsibility
For residents of Noida’s Sector 150, Moninder Kumar’s name has become a constant and easy reminder for what the authorities failed to do.
“I feel it is my moral responsibility to tell everyone what happened.” Kumar said, a gamcha still tied around his head. “Because if not today, then tomorrow another young man will die the same way.”
For Bindra and other residents of Sector 150, Moninder Kumar is a messiah.
“We have given up on the Noida Authority. For us, Kumar is a godsend,” Bindra said. “He didn’t think twice before jumping in, while the police and the SDRF were passing the buck.”
Two weeks earlier, Kumar had encountered another accident at the same spot. As visibility was poor due to heavy fog, Kumar was following the tail lights of a truck. Suddenly, its driver Gulvinder from Punjab broke through the boundary wall and partially plunged into the water.
“I thought the truck was going the same way, so I followed its lights—until it fell into the drain,” Kumar said.
The driver jumped out, mistaking the water for solid ground, and began to drown. Police personnel were present but did not attempt a rescue. Kumar spotted a rope tied to the truck, jumped in, and used it to pull the driver out.
“The water had reached his nose. If I had been even a minute late, he would have died,” Kumar said.
After rescuing Gulvinder, Kumar took him home and made him stay the night. The next morning, the driver went to the police station to retrieve his damaged vehicle. Instead of receiving help, Gulvinder said he was asked to pay for damage to the boundary wall, which fell under the Noida authority’s jurisdiction.
“I was shocked. Instead of owning up to their mistake, they were asking me for money,” Gulvinder told ThePrint. “I have been driving for 20 years, even in dense fog,” he added. “But here there was no wall, no signage to show a curve. I thought it was a straight road.”
The spot where Gulvinder’s truck broke through the boundary wall is the same place from which Yuvraj’s car plunged into the ditch.
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The final call and a shattered world
Yuvraj Mehta, an engineer at Dunnhumby in Gurugram’s Sector 54, was the sole breadwinner of his family. His mother died two years ago, and his father, a retired senior official of the State Bank of India, depended on him. His sister lives in the UK. After his mother’s death, Yuvraj took on the responsibility of caring for his father, aided by a flexible work arrangement that allowed him to work from home several days a week. He was also set to be married in two months.
For his father, friends said, life had begun to feel whole again.
“He was a simple man with simple dreams,” one of them said. “With his son’s marriage, he thought life would become a little less lonely.”
A phone call shattered that world, and now he is in Haridwar to perform his son’s last rites.
Throughout the day, people from nearby villages and sectors gathered at the site, sharing stories, recalling earlier incidents, and trying to understand how a routine drive home ended in death.
For Raj Kumar Mehta, the memory of that final call is unbearable.
“Papa, mujhe bacha lo. Main naale mein gir gaya hoon,” his son had pleaded.
He had protected Yuvraj through every scrape and fear since childhood. This time, he couldn’t.
(Edited by Prashant Dixit)