In Sector 150 of Greater Noida, a sharp 90-degree turn skirts a plot filled with water. A 2-foot-high wall runs along the periphery of the plot, offering only a thin barricade. In the background, high-rise structures with gates too high to climb loom over the stretch. In the National Capital Region’s January weather, the smog makes everything grey.
On January 16, what should have been a routine drive home turned fatal for Yuvraj Mehta. Returning from his workplace in Gurugram, about 60 km away, and just metres from his apartment in Eureka Park, his car veered off the road at this sharp turn and plunged into the water-filled pit.
“My son fought for his life for two hours as emergency response teams stood watching,” Yuvraj’s father Rajkumar told the media. Rajkumar recounted how his son had survived the initial impact. “He had managed to open his car door and call me from his phone. I rushed to the spot. At first, I did not know where to go, so I called him again. He told me he had fallen into a ditch near our home. So I went back. When I reached, I couldn’t see him; the fog was too dense. Then he switched on his phone’s torchlight,” he told the media, the day after the incident.
A couple of hours later, Yuvraj’s body was recovered from the muddy water.
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