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Key Points:
Yuvraj Mehta’s death after falling into a water-filled pit at an abandoned construction site highlights serious lapses in safety recently.
The accident has drawn attention to the long-running Sports City project in Noida’s Sector 150, flagged by the CAG for irregularities.
The Allahabad High Court have exposed alleged collusion between real estate developers and NOIDA officials.
The recent death of a 27-year-old Noida techie has sparked a chain reaction, bringing long-standing issues such as technical lapses and negligence in India into focus. Yuvraj Mehta, a software engineer, met a tragic fate while returning from work after his vehicle fell into a pit at an under-construction mall in Greater Noida on January 16, 2026.
Dense fog, which initially appeared to be the cause of the accident, later triggered a chain of events that uncovered a much larger scam linked to the massive pit filled with drainage and sewer water.
Yuvraj Mehta was trapped in cold water amid dense fog, continuously pleading for help for over two hours. Several witnesses alleged that the 27-year-old’s tragic death could have been prevented if security personnel had not delayed the rescue operation, citing the water being too cold and the operation too risky as reasons. The accident, which shook the nation, raised questions about deep-rooted negligence.
Following a complaint filed by the victim’s father, multiple First Information Reports (FIRs) have been registered against several builders from Lotus Greens Construction Pvt Ltd and MZ Wiztown Planners Pvt Ltd. However, the link between Mehta’s death and these two real estate development companies raises further questions about lapses and an alleged scam worth thousands of crores that has persisted in Noida’s Sector 150.
According to an exclusive report by The Indian Express, Mehta’s death is linked to a Sports City project that dates back nearly two decades. The project reportedly caused a loss of ₹9,000 crore to the government.
It all began in 2004, when the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA)decided to develop a Sports City. In 2014, the authority launched a scheme to construct international-standard sports facilities in Sector 150, Noida. About 120 hectares of land were allotted for the project at a reserve price of ₹18,865 per square metre.
According to a report by The Indian Express, developers were required to divide the project into two main components—one for sports facilities and the other for residential housing. Seventy per cent of the 120-hectare land parcel, which could not be sold or transferred, was marked for the construction of sports infrastructure.
To recover their investment, developers were allowed to build residential housing on 29.5% of the land, while the remaining 0.5% was allocated for commercial units.
Enter Lotus Green Constructions Pvt Ltd, which was awarded the project for a whopping ₹2,300 crore. A year after the scheme was introduced, the land was divided into a total of 24 plots, out of which plot number SC-02/A-3 was assigned to Wiztown Planners Pvt Ltd. Cut to the present: the police have announced the arrest of Abhay Kumar, one of the owners of Wiztown Planners Pvt Ltd, in connection with the death of the Noida techie.
The Sports City project faced multiple setbacks, including repeated postponements of its deadlines. The scheme on which the project was based was also accused of several irregularities. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) accused NOIDA of initiating the project without prior government approval. According to a CAG report released in 2021, NOIDA and the Uttar Pradesh government suffered a loss of nearly ₹9,000 crore.
See Also: After Liquor and Land Scams, Suspended IAS Vinay Chaubey Named in ‘Large-Scale’ Corruption Case
By June 2021, all activities related to the project were halted. On February 24, 2025, the Allahabad High Court directed the CBI to file an FIR against NOIDA and the private companies involved, stating that the large-scale scam could not have been carried out without the involvement of senior NOIDA officials.
The Greater Noida police have made multiple arrests of those linked to Mehta’s death, including builders associated with Lotus Green Construction Pvt Ltd. On January 22, 2026, the police apprehended Ravi Bansal and Sachin Karanwal, who were working for Lotus Green, and issued a non-bailable warrant against another builder, Nirmal Singh.
After the project was frozen amid legal proceedings and allegations of large-scale scams, plot SC-02 returned to the spotlight following the tragic death of Yuvraj Mehta.
The accident site had been filled with water since 2022, and construction work there had remained discontinued for years. Despite several warnings to the NOIDA authorities about the potential dangers posed by the site, no prompt action was taken.
The director of Wiztown Planners Pvt Ltd had earlier informed the CEO of the NOIDA Authority about sewer and drain water accumulating at the SC-02 plot and had warned that it could lead to a serious accident. A truck driver also faced a close call at the site just weeks before the accident of Mehta.
The authorities were accused of negligence due to the absence of drain covers and reflectors. Numerous videos highlighting similar lapses by the concerned authorities have flooded the internet, prompting questions and demands for accountability.
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