The man first seen as a helping hand at a dark, foggy construction site is now at the centre of a troubling turn in the death row of the Noida techie.

Moninder, a Flipkart delivery worker who had claimed he tried to rescue 26-year-old Yuvraj Mehta after his car plunged into a water-filled excavation pit in Sector 150 around midnight on Friday, has changed his version of what unfolded that night.

Yuvraj died after his car broke through a compromised boundary wall and fell into the flooded site, a spot locals say has long been an accident trap.

In his first account, given to the media soon after the incident, Moninder accused the police, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the fire brigade of standing by while the victim cried for help. The allegation echoed what Yuvraj’s father, Rajkumar Mehta, has also claimed.

“The accident caused by the fog happened around 12 am. After the car fell into the ditch, for one to one and a half hours, he was crying out for help, saying ‘please save me’,” Moninder had said. “There were people from the SDRF, the police, and the fire brigade, but nobody helped him, saying that the water was cold and that there might be steel reinforcement bars in it. Honestly, the responsibility for this death lies with government departments.”

He went on to describe his own attempt to intervene. “When I arrived at 1.45 am, I saw people from the SDRF sitting with their ladders… The victim had drowned 10 minutes earlier, then I told these people to come out and said I would go inside. I took off my clothes, tied a rope around my waist, and went 50 metres inside… I could neither find the car nor the person.”

On Tuesday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also shared a video carrying the remarks of the delivery man, where he said timely action could have saved the man, and that of the deceased's father, who lamented that there were several people there with some of them making videos but did not act to save his son.

But now Moninder’s statement has changed.

In a self-shot video statement, Moninder offered a different recollection of the events, reported Newslaundry.

This version was not in response to questions from reporters or officials but appeared as a reel-like clip, contrasting with his earlier on-the-spot remarks.

“Within 15 minutes of the accident, the police reached the scene,” he said in the video. “When I reached there, the police were already taking action… SDRF, NDRF, and the fire brigade arrived on time… very soon after, with all their efforts, they were able to rescue the boy and the car and take them out.”

The contradiction has fuelled public scepticism.

On social media, some users have speculated whether the Uttar Pradesh police arm twisted him into changing his account.

Reporting by The Indian Express has added to the questions.

It said Yuvraj managed to climb out of his partially submerged car and stood on its roof, screaming for help for nearly two hours before he drowned. The report quoted Knowledge Park SHO Sarvesh Singh as saying police did not enter the water because they suspected the ditch was part of an excavation site and could contain submerged iron rods.

Moninder had earlier told The Indian Express that this was not the first accident at the spot.

Two weeks earlier, he said, he helped rescue a truck driver from Ludhiana who fell into the same ditch on a foggy night. “There are no reflectors in the area, so an accident is waiting to happen here,” the driver later recalled, describing how Moninder tied a rope and pulled him out while authorities blamed him for damaging the boundary wall.

The fallout has reached the administration.

The Uttar Pradesh government has removed Noida Authority CEO Lokesh M and placed him on a waitlist.

Police have also registered an FIR against Wiztown Planners Private Limited and Lotus Greens Construction Private Limited under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including culpable homicide, causing death by negligence, and endangering life.

Earlier, The Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) had ordered an immediate strengthening of road safety measures across its jurisdiction following the death of a software engineer in neighbouring Noida after his car fell into a water-filled pit.

GNIDA Chief Executive Officer N.G. Ravi Kumar has directed officials to urgently identify and fill all potholes on or near roads and to mark accident-prone “black spots” without delay, according to an official statement issued on Monday evening.