Moninder, a Flipkart delivery worker who attempted to rescue 26-year-old techie Yuvraj Mehta, has changed his statement on what transpired the night Yuvraj drowned in a water-filled pit at a construction site in Noida’s Sector 150. Yuvraj died after his car crashed through a compromised boundary wall and plunged into the flooded excavation site. 

In his earlier statement, Moninder had called out the police, SDRF and the fire brigade for standing by and waiting as the victim drowned, something that Yuvraj’s father Rajkumar Mehta has also alleged. 

Earlier, Moninder was heard telling the media, “The accident caused by the fog happened around 12 am. After the car fell into the ditch, for one to one and a half hours, he was crying out for help, saying ‘please save me’. There were people from the SDRF, the police, and the fire brigade, but nobody helped him, saying that the water was cold and that there might be steel reinforcement bars in it. Honestly, the responsibility for this death lies with government departments.” 

“When I arrived at 1.45 am, I saw people from the SDRF sitting with their ladders, saying the water was cold, that there were steel reinforcement bars in it, and that they could not go in there. The victim had drowned 10 minutes earlier, then I told these people to come out and said I would go inside. I took off my clothes, tied a rope around my waist, and went 50 metres inside, and searched for him for about 30 minutes. I could neither find the car nor the person. I left the spot at 5.30 am, and by then neither the boy nor the car had been found. So after that, I left for home, and I had no idea about what happened,” he added.

However, in a subsequent statement, Moninder’s recollection changed markedly.

Notably, this second version did not emerge in response to questions from reporters or officials. Instead, it was released as a self-shot video statement, circulated in a reel-like format — a sharp departure from his earlier remarks, which were made while responding to the media on the spot. 

In the video, Moninder says, “Within 15 minutes of the accident, the police reached the scene after people there notified them. A little while after the police arrived at the scene, I arrived as well. When I reached there, the police were already taking action. They were trying every possible way to save his life, and after some time, SDRF, NDRF, and the fire brigade arrived on time. Because of the heavy fog, neither could they see the car nor the person in the pond. But very soon after, with all their efforts, they were able to rescue the boy and the car and take them out.” 

The contrast between the two accounts has not gone unnoticed.

On social media, some users have speculated whether a visit from the police may have helped refresh Moninder’s memory.

Notably, the fact that Yuvraj had managed to climb out of the partially submerged car and stood atop its roof, screaming for help for nearly two hours before he drowned, was reported in The Indian Express. The news report also went on to note: “The police, who were present at the spot, did not enter the water to rescue him. Knowledge Park Station House Officer (SHO) Sarvesh Singh told The Indian Express that they were hesitant because they suspected the ditch was an excavation done at a construction site, and could contain submerged iron rods.”

Moninder even spoke to The Indian Express earlier, saying that this was not the first time an accident had occurred at this spot. He had helped a truck driver from Ludhiana who fell into the same ditch two weeks ago. “That was also a foggy night. The driver was new here. Because visibility was low, I was trailing his truck to find my way while riding my bike for a delivery. Suddenly, there was a blast-like sound…an iron rod pierced a tyre, and his truck fell into the ditch.” 

The truck driver recounted, “There are no reflectors in the area, so an accident is waiting to happen here. After the truck fell into the ditch, I thought there was ground below. So I stepped out and fell straight into the water. Moninder then untied a rope from my truck. He tied it to a bar that was attached to the boundary wall and pulled me out…when we asked the Noida Authority to help rescue the truck, they accused me of causing a portion of the boundary wall to break.”

In response, the UP government on Monday removed Noida Authority’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Lokesh M, from his position and put him on a “waitlist”. 

The Greater Noida Police, meanwhile, registered an FIR against two real estate companies – Wiztown Planners Private Limited and Lotus Greens Construction Private Limited –  under various sections of the BNS, including culpable homicide, causing death by negligence, and endangering life and personal safety, which have been invoked against them. 

Lotus Green issued a statement saying it had “no role to play because the said plot was transferred in 2019-20 to… [another company] with the approval of the Noida Authority.” Wiztown claimed that the land sold to them by Lotus Greens was already excavated in 2020, but the Noida Authority had withheld commencement permission, thus “paralysing the project”.

Meanwhile, this incident has caused massive outrage online with people calling out the authorities in Noida and even the state government for their negligence. 

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