Noida: A 27-year-old software engineer died after his car went out of control and fell into a 20-feet-deep water-filled pit that was dug for the basement of an under-construction building in Sector 150 of Greater Noida, police said on Sunday, January 18.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Saturday, following which a search operation was launched. The body was recovered later in the morning with the help of teams from the fire department, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the local police.

Police at the Knowledge Park police station said they received information at around 12.15 am that a car had plunged into a pit near Sector 150.

The deceased was identified as Yuvraj Mehta, a resident of Tata Eureka Park society in Sector 150. He was working as a software engineer with a reputed company in Gurugram and was returning home from work at the time of the incident, police said.

“The search operation was carried out with the help of the NDRF, SDRF, fire department and local police. The body was recovered at around 4 am on Saturday,” Additional Commissioner of Police (Greater Noida) Hemant Upadhyay told PTI.

He said preliminary investigation suggested that fog and overspeeding may have led to the accident, following which the car crossed a drain and fell into the pit.

The body has been sent for post-mortem examination and further investigation is underway, police said.

Local residents staged a protest against the Noida Authority, alleging negligence. They claimed that similar accidents had occurred in the past and that authorities had been repeatedly informed about the need for proper barricading and reflectors near the drain.

“Residents had requested the Noida Authority to install barricades and reflectors, but no action was taken,” a protester alleged.

Moreover, the father of the victim, who reached the spot after being called by his son, said that Yuvraj struggled for nearly two hours but received no help. “People were standing there making videos, they only stopped when we scolded them….The rescuers who were present were not prepared to save my son; they had no swimmer or boat with them,” he said while speaking to reporters.

(With inputs from PTI.)