'Papa, I don't want to die': No one saved Noida techie, only a delivery agent dared to jump into freezing water

• Engineer Yuvraj Mehta died as his car fell into a pit in Greater Noida.
• Eyewitnesses allege delayed rescue as bystanders filmed instead of helping
• Public outrage led to protests and barricades installed at the accident site

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The tragic death of software engineer Yuvraj Mehta, whose car plunged into a water-filled construction pit in Greater Noida, has been compounded by stark allegations from eyewitnesses and the victim’s family, who claim rescue efforts were fatally delayed as bystanders opted to film the scene rather than help.

The most dramatic first-hand account comes from Moninder, a delivery agent who arrived at the accident site in Sector 150 around 1.45 am on Saturday. He presented a scathing critique of the initial official response, alleging that rescue personnel were reluctant to enter the dangerous, water-filled pit.

Watch: Flipkart agent says he looked for Yuvraj Mehta for 30-40 minutes but ...

#WATCH | Noida techie death case | Greater Noida | Moninder, a Flipkart agent, who rescued Yuvraj's body from the drain, says, "The incident happened at 12 o'clock that night. I went there at 1.40 AM. I was enroute delivering an order. There was a crowd, and seeing it, I… pic.twitter.com/LQ8kVbgUVz

— ANI (@ANI) January 19, 2026

"The rescue personnel were initially hesitant to enter the pit due to the cold water, poor visibility and exposed iron rods at the construction site," Moninder stated. In a desperate attempt to locate the 27-year-old victim, he took matters into his own hands. "I tied a rope around my waist and went into the water myself. I searched for the youth and his car for around 30 minutes," he told reporters.

His intervention, he suggested, was too late. He claimed he was later told that "if help had reached 10 minutes earlier, the techie could have been saved."

Moninder’s claims of a delayed response are echoed and amplified by the harrowing testimony of the victim’s father, Raj Kumar Mehta. He provided a chilling narrative of his son’s final moments, alleging that Yuvraj’s cries for help were met with indifference from a crowd of onlookers.

“My son was struggling to save himself. He kept repeating ‘papa bachao, papa bachao’ every time we spoke on the phone,” the grieving father told news agency ANI. “He was also shouting ‘help, help’ so that general public might hear his cry for help, but most of the crowd was just watching. Some people were making videos.”

Raj Kumar Mehta detailed how his son used his mobile phone torch to signal his location in the pitch-dark, fog-shrouded pit. However, he asserted that no meaningful rescue attempt was mounted during the crucial window when Yuvraj was still alive, a period he estimates lasted nearly two hours from the accident around midnight until his son’s phone went silent around 2.30 am.

“My son struggled for 2 hours to save his life. Had he been given little support, he might have survived,” he said, directly contradicting official accounts of an immediate and concerted rescue operation.

Police have denied all allegations of negligence, with Additional Commissioner Rajeev Narayan Mishra citing “nearly zero” visibility due to fog and listing equipment like cranes and searchlights deployed at the scene.

The tragedy has sparked public outrage. Residents held protests and a candlelight march demanding justice for Mehta and improved safety measures. In a swift, if belated, response following the protests, the Noida Authority installed barricades at the site.