LUCKNOW: The police on Thursday have arrested two more shareholders of the water-filled plot in Greater Noida, where techie Yuvraj Mehta died by drowning on January 16. They have been identified as Ravi Bansal, a resident of Manglam Residency Apartment in Sector 21-D of Faridabad, and Sachin Karanwal of Shalimar Garden in Ghaziabad.
Sources say the Noida Police has formed four teams to advance investigation in the case. Bansal and Karanwal are directors of a private limited firm Lotus Greens and hold shares in the plot where Mehta died, said additional police commissioner Rajeev Narayan. He added that more arrests would be made soon.
Moreover, the Noida Police has sealed the corporate office of main accused Abhay Kumar, owner of MZ Wiztown, and co-accused Nirmal Singh, which is situated in Noida’s Sector 126. The police also seized documents related to the firm. Kumar was arrested on Tuesday is in judicial custody now.
The police also filed another first information report in the case on Thursday under the Environment (Protection) Act, the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, and many Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections, including Section 290 (negligent conduct concerning buildings or structures), against the five plot shareholders. On Monday, police had filed a case of culpable homicide, causing death by negligence, and an act endangering life against MZ Wiztown and Lotus Greens.
However, Lotus Greens has denied any responsibility in the episode, claiming the plot was transferred to another party with the approval of the Noida Authority in 2019–20. On the other hand, MZ Wiztown said that the land was received in “an excavated condition” and Kumar was not granted any permission to commence the project at the site.
Mehta, a software engineer, was returning home from his office in Gurugram when he reportedly lost control of his vehicle in dense fog, broke through a low boundary at a sharp 90-degree turn, and fell into the pit. He climbed onto the roof top of the drowning vehicle while trying to save himself, while making desperate calls for the help but to no avail.
The police, firefighters, the State Disaster Response Force, and the National Disaster Response Force teams reached the accident site, but they failed to save him. For nearly 90 minutes, Mehta remained trapped, as his vehicle slowly sank. By the time he could be pulled out, he had died.