Days after a 23-year-old college student drowned in a water-filled vacant plot belonging to the Noida Authority in Sector 94, police on Friday registered a murder case against three of his friends at the Sector 126 police station, based on a complaint by the deceased man’s family.
Senior police officers said the family has also demanded a “fair investigation” into the incident that took place on Wednesday.
Harshit Bhatt drowned in the water-filled vacant plot in Sector 94 on Wednesday after he and his three college friends went there to celebrate the culmination of their exams. According to police, one of his friends tried to save him, but Bhatt sank in the deep water.
Sector 126 station house officer Sumnesh Kumar said, “On the complaint by the deceased man’s mother, a murder case under Section 103 of the BNS has been registered against three friends at the Sector 126 police station.”
Police said no arrests have been made yet and an investigation is underway.
While speaking to HT, Bhatt’s uncle Santosh Joshi said, “The entire incident reminds us of the techie’s drowning in Sector 150 a few weeks ago. The plot where Harshit died should have been fully fenced, and authorities should have taken steps to ensure that such plots do not get waterlogged.”
The spot where Bhatt drowned on Wednesday afternoon was partially fenced, allowing outsiders access. “Had the spot been fully fenced, they would never have gone in. It has become a picnic spot for students, and no one is deployed there to stop people from entering the plot,” Joshi said.
“I am sure that my nephew and his friends were not the only ones visiting the spot. Students of their age are aware of that place,” he added.
Joshi said that despite the death of a techie who drowned in a water-filled plot on January 16, authorities did not take steps to identify similar hazardous sites in Noida. “My nephew drowned due to negligence of the authorities,” he said.
When asked about the police claim that the group had gone there to consume alcohol, and that medical reports of his three friends confirmed this, Joshi said, “Consuming alcohol is not a crime. Whether he was also under the influence of alcohol will be revealed in the viscera report. In the first place, the authorities should have taken strict measures to avoid such an incident.”
“We have demanded a fair investigation and asked the police to probe why only my nephew entered the pit. Maybe he was instigated to do so,” he added.
According to the uncle, Bhatt’s father, Lalit Chandra Bhatt, an army man posted in Leh, had to walk several kilometres to reach the main road, from where his company commander helped arrange transport to the airport. The cremation was conducted late Thursday evening after Lalit reached Ghaziabad around 4pm.
“My nephew was excited to get a job after the last semester of his Bachelor of Physical Education programme. He had attended two placement opportunities in the last two weeks.”