Noida techie death: High Court orders release of builder weeks after drowning case

The Allahabad High Court has ordered the immediate release of Abhay Kumar, director of MZ Wiztown Planners, after holding that his arrest in connection with the death of a techie in Noida was carried out without following mandatory procedures.

A Division Bench of Justice Siddharth and Justice Jai Krishna Upadhyay passed the order on Thursday while allowing a habeas corpus petition filed on Kumar’s behalf.

The court observed that the police failed to comply with Clause 13 of the arrest memo, which mandates informing the accused of the reasons for arrest and providing a copy of the arrest memo before taking the person into custody. The Bench held that Kumar’s arrest violated this requirement and an earlier High Court order.

The plea sought directions to the respondents to produce and release Kumar from what was termed illegal custody. It also sought a declaration that his arrest, detention and remand were illegal, null and void, as the Supreme Court’s directions in Mihir Rajesh vs State of Maharashtra were not followed.

The second prayer sought the issuance of a writ in the nature of certiorari, quashing the remand orders dated January 20 and January 21, along with subsequent remand orders passed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Gautam Budh Nagar. The plea also sought directions to initiate a departmental inquiry against the errant police officials.

Senior counsel appearing for Kumar relied on the High Court judgment in Umang Rastogi vs State of Uttar Pradesh and submitted that, in the present case as well, the Clause 13 requirement of the arrest memo had not been complied with.

Accepting the submissions, the High Court held that the facts of the case were covered by its earlier judgment and ruled that the arrest was illegal. The court quashed the judicial remand orders issued by the CJM on January 20 and 21 and directed that Kumar be released forthwith.

The Bench also ordered that its decision be communicated to the concerned authorities for immediate compliance, without waiting for the issuance of a certified copy of the order.

Abhay Kumar was arrested by the Greater Noida Police after an FIR was registered in connection with the death of 27-year-old software engineer Yuvraj Mehta. Mehta drowned after his car fell into a water-filled trench at an undeveloped site in Sector 150, Noida, on January 16.

According to the case records, the trench had developed due to inadequate stormwater management, and the site had remained undeveloped for years while under the control of Wiztown Planners.