Rescue Team Left My Son To His Fate: Father Of Noida Techie Who Drowned

At 27, Yuvraj Mehta had a whole life ahead of him. This realisation is what added to the pain that his father, Rajkumar Mehta, has to live with, along with the knowledge that he will never see his son again.

Even the last glimpse of his bright son, a software engineer, gave him nothing less than true horror - a father saw his son trying to get out of a water-filled pit at a construction site in Uttar Pradesh's 'smart city' Noida, only to die with no help despite a long rescue window of two hours.

No parent should go through anything like this, the devastated father told NDTV.

Closure is uncertain for Rajkumar Mehta. He said his family will never get justice because his son is not coming back.

But if there is anything that he wants done in memory of his son, it is this: "We want the responsible people to face the harshest possible action and ensure that no other Yuvraj suffers such a tragedy in future."

Rajkumar Mehta said the negligent departments should not be spared.

"All those who were responsible for this tragedy should get appropriate punishment. My son was very brave. Even after falling into the water-filled pit, he struggled to get out and gave the rescue personnel a chance for two hours," Rajkumar Mehta said.

"But the rescue team showed only negligence and left my son to god's mercy," the father told NDTV.

He gave his regards to Moninder, a delivery rider who made the brave choice of tying a rope around his waist and going into the water in the pitch black night to look for Yuvraj. The delivery rider, who said he searched for at least half-an-hour, had also alleged that timely rescue would have definitely saved Yuvraj.

"I want to thank Moninder bhai for trying to save my son's life without caring about anything else," Rajkumar Mehta said.

He appealed to the UP government to ensure that all those who were responsible for his immense loss get punishment, and acknowledged the Yogi Adityanath government's decision to form a special investigation team.

The software engineer died in the early hours of January 17 after his car skidded in dense fog and plunged into the unbarricaded, water-filled pit in Noida Sector 150. The road, going over a large drain, turned a sharp 90-degree on his way home not far from the accident site.

Rajkumar Mehta had come there on getting a call from his son. Standing beside the police and fire department personnel, he could hear Yuvraj shout for help. He watched it all, helpless. Rajkumar Mehta said his son climbed to the roof of the partially submerged car and used his mobile phone's flashlight to signal his location in the thick fog.

Among the actions that followed after the software engineer's tragic end included the UP government removing the Noida Authority chief executive on January 19 and sacking a junior engineer.

So far three builders have been arrested and an investigation has begun against real estate developers MZ Wiztown and Lotus Greens. The case filed into the accident includes charges for murder and violation of environmental laws.

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Empty Supermarket Shelves, Flights Cancelled: US Gears Up For Heavy Snow Storm

Americans stripped supermarket shelves Friday ahead of potentially "catastrophic" winter weather that threatened at least 160 million people across the country with transportation chaos, blackouts and life-threatening cold.

The massive storm system was set to drop a mix of freezing rain and heavy snow starting Friday evening on its days-long march across the continental US.

The storm could bring "catastrophic ice accumulation," the National Weather Service said, potentially causing "long-duration power outages, extensive tree damage, and extremely dangerous or impassable travel conditions," including in many states less accustomed to intense winter weather.

After battering the country's southwest and central areas, the storm system was expected to hit the heavily populated mid-Atlantic and northeastern states -- stretching from New Mexico to the Eastern seaboard -- before a frigid air mass settles in.

More than 2,700 weekend flights have already been cancelled, according to the tracker Flightaware, including many in and outbound from Texas. 

State officials there vow the grid is in better shape than it was five years ago, when it failed during a deadly winter storm and left millions without power.

The southern state's Republican Governor Greg Abbott told journalists the grid "has never been stronger, never been more prepared and is fully capable of handling this winter storm."

Yet Michael Webber, a University of Texas engineering professor, warned ice accumulations would remain "a big risk" across the country -- ice could amass and weigh down trees, for example, downing power lines and provoking outages.

Frostbite risk

In New York state, Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul warned residents to stay inside amid frigid conditions: "Five or six minutes outside could literally be dangerous for your health."

She stressed precautions like protecting pipes, using heaters safely, and checking on vulnerable neighbors.

New York's Zohran Mamdani was set to face his first major test as mayor -- the city famously makes early judgments of newly elected leaders based on winter storm response.

Democrat Mamdani said remote learning Monday was an option but he was not planning to close schools -- even as one student emailed his wife and urged a snow day.

School districts elsewhere were preemptively announcing closures. A professional basketball game on Saturday and dozens of collegiate games were rescheduled.

Even in Chicago, a city all-too-familiar with bone-chilling weather, an organization canceled their annual event that sees participants plunge into glacial Lake Michigan for charity (the after-party at a bar was still on.)

Authorities warned of life-threatening cold that could last a week post-storm, especially in the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest, where wind chill lows were forecast to dip to extremes under -50F (-46.6C).

Such temperatures can cause frostbite within minutes. One Minnesota television station showed uncensored photos of the serious injury that freezes skin tissues as a warning.

Polar vortex

The brutal storm system is the result of a stretched polar vortex, an Arctic region of cold, low-pressure air that normally forms a relatively compact, circular system but sometimes morphs into a more oval shape, sending cold air spilling across North America.

Scientists say the increasing frequency of such disruptions of the polar vortex may be linked to climate change, though the debate is not settled and natural variability plays a role.

But President Donald Trump -- who scoffs at climate change science and has rolled back green energy policies -- questioned how the cold front fit into broader climate shifts.

"WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???," the Republican leader posted on Truth Social.

State officials were more focused on the immediate threats the powerful storm posed. 

At least 16 states and Washington DC declared states of emergency to mobilize disaster response crews and resources, and many municipalities were opening warming shelters.

Lines snaked out of grocery stores where stock began running thin.

North of Houston, one supermarket was nearly out of bottled water.

Anne Schultz said preparation was key but she wasn't particularly afraid: "If the power stays on, we should all be fine," the 68-year-old told AFP.

The Greensboro Police Department in North Carolina meanwhile warned residents to choose wisely when hunkering down.

"Please remember that whoever you hang out with on Saturday, you're stuck with until at least Tuesday when the ice melts," the department quipped on X.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Mumbai Police Detain Actor Kamaal R Khan In Oshiwara Firing Case

Actor Kamaal Rashid Khan, popularly known as KRK, was detained by Oshiwara police late on Friday in connection with a two-round firing case in Mumbai. He is the prime suspect in the case.

KRK, who is in the custody of the Oshiwara police, was brought to the Oshiwara police station late on Friday evening.

The police said that KRK accepted responsibility for the firing in his statement and that it was done using his licensed gun.

The police further said that his gun has been seized and that the paperwork process is underway for further action.

According to reports, the incident took place on January 18, during which two rounds were fired at a residential building in Oshiwara in Andheri.

Two bullets were recovered from Nalanda Society—one on the second floor and another on the fourth floor. One flat belongs to a writer-director, and the other to a model.

A team of 18 cops from the Oshiwara police station, led by Sanjay Chavan, along with several crime branch teams, was investigating the case.

The cops were initially clueless as nothing was found in CCTV footage. However, with the help of a forensic team, police later asserted that the bullets might have been fired from Kamaal R Khan's bungalow.

A police source said paperwork is underway and that the actor's formal arrest could take place by morning.

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India Break Pakistan's Record In Big Win Over New Zealand In 2nd T20I

Ishan Kishan justified his national recall with a sensational 32-ball-76 while captain Suryakumar Yadav scored his first fifty after 23 innings as India decimated New Zealand by seven wickets for a 2-0 lead in the five-match T20 series in Raipur on Friday. Ahead of the all important T20 World Cup, it all seems to be falling in place for India with Suryakumar (82 not out off 37) overcoming a prolonged lean patch and Kishan emerging as a destructive top-order enforcer. India were expected to chase 209 on a belter of a pitch but not with such ease after losing Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson by the second over of the chase.

Suryakumar and Shivam Dube (36 not out off 18) closed out the game in a canter as India gunned down the target in 15.2 overs.

Full-member teams chasing down 200-plus targets with most balls to spare -

28 balls - India vs New Zealand in Raipur (Target: 209)
24 balls - Pakistan vs New Zealand in Auckland in 2025 (Target: 205)
23 balls - Australia vs West Indies in Basseterre in 2025 (Target: 215)

Kishan, back in the side after a gap of more than two years, went berserk from ball one and ended with 11 fours and four sizzling sixes.

Kishan's knock actually would keep Sanju Samson on tenterhooks after back-to-back failures as Tilak Varma, when fit would take that number three position. In such a situation, Kishan stacking up necessary numbers could spell doom for the Kerala man.

His special knock included a flurry of pick up shots, pulls and even a reverse sweep.

Such was the timing and impact of the innings that Kishan got a hug from his skipper after mistiming a slog sweep off Ish Sodhi's bowling.

Suryakumar maintained the momentum generated by Kishan in the able company of Dube, who too collected his fair share of sixes.

At the start of the chase, Samson could not carry on for long despite being dropped at deep square leg on the second ball of the innings.

The pressure piled up on India when trump card Abhishek's mistimed flick off Jacob Duffy to be holed out at deep square leg.

The counter attack from Kishan tilted the game in favour of India.

The captaincy of Mitchell Santner left a lot to be desired as his decision to give Zak Foulkes the third over after two tight overs by Henry and Duffy, left a lot to be desired.

Earlier, Kuldeep Yadav regained form with two timely strikes in the middle overs as India limited New Zealand to 208 for 6.

Rachin Ravindra (44 off 26) and skipper Mitchell Santner (47 not out off 27) took the attack to India in different phases of the game to ensure New Zealand got past 200-run mark.

Expecting heavy dew, skipper Suryakumar Yadav predictably opted to bowl with Harshit Rana and Kuldeep Yadav playing instead of injured Axar Patel and rested Jasprit Bumrah.

Devon Conway (19 off 9) and Tim Seifert (24 off 13), fresh off BBL, got the Black Caps off to a flying start before falling in quick succession. Conway, who has been caught in the slip cordon multiple times on the white ball tour thus far, went on the offensive in the first over against Arshdeep Singh despite being beaten by an outswinger on the very first ball of the match.

Conway dispatched the left-arm seamer for three crisp fours and a sliced six over backward point for an 18-run over.

Seifert smashed four boundaries off Arshdeep's following over that also went for 18 runs. Harshit Rana was introduced in the fourth over and he struck off his second ball, dismissing Conway for the fourth time in as many innings including his dominance over the left-handers in the ODI series.

Rachin Ravindra (44 off 23) came in and played some spectacular strokes before getting out on a wide ball from Kuldeep.

However, the Indian wrist spinner's first victim was the dangerous Glenn Phillips who could not connect the googly and was caught at backward point.

At 111/3 in 10 overs on a true surface, New Zealand looked on course for a total well over 200 but India were able to pull things back. Shivam Dube, the seventh bowling option introduced in the 12th over, got rid of the in-form Daryl Mitchell off a slower ball to build pressure on the opposition.

Santer ensued his team got 57 runs off the last five overs with a flurry of boundaries and a straight six off Hardik Pandya.

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Karan Johar And Neeraj Ghaywan React After Homebound's Oscars 2026 Snub

While Homebound fell short of a nomination at the upcoming Academy Awards, the moment was met not with disappointment but with appreciation. Producer Karan Johar and director Neeraj Ghaywan took to social media to reflect on the film's journey and the collaboration that brought it to the global stage.

Karan Johar Expresses Pride In Homebound 

Soon after the Academy announced the nominations for the 98th Academy Awards, Karan Johar took to Instagram to share his feelings about Homebound. The filmmaker posted several stills from the film on his Instagram Stories and applauded director Neeraj Ghaywan for his vision and dedication.

"Proud!!! Love you @neeraj.ghaywan for allowing us to bask in your light!" Karan Johar wrote.

Neeraj Ghaywan Thanks Karan Johar 

Director Neeraj Ghaywan responded by resharing Karan Johar's Instagram Story and expressing heartfelt gratitude for the producer's backing throughout the film's journey. 

Ghaywan wrote, "Thank you @karanjohar! You have been an absolute rock. Couldn't have come this far without you. Love you."

Homebound was India's official submission for the Academy Awards and had earlier made it to the shortlist before missing out on a final nomination. 

Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, the film stars Vishal Jethwa and Ishaan Khatter in lead roles, with Janhvi Kapoor playing a key part. Produced by Dharma Productions, the film also boasts Martin Scorsese as its executive producer. 

ALSO READ: Neeraj Ghaywan's Homebound, India's Entry, Out Of Oscar 2026 Race

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'You Have To Be AI Fluent For Employment Going Forward': Rishad Premji To NDTV

India has not missed the artificial intelligence (AI) bus and there are several opportunities available for the country's companies, which can help enterprises make use of the technology at scale, Wipro Executive Chairman Rishad Premji has said.

Speaking exclusively to NDTV CEO and Editor-In-Chief Rahul Kanwal on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, Premji emphasised that the people most at risk of losing their jobs because of AI are those who do not adopt the technology. AI fluency, he insisted, is going to be critical for any kind of employment going forward.

To a question on what AI will bring in 2026, the Wipro chairman said organisations will leverage the technology more and more to serve their businesses and their customers. 

"I think the language models don't have enough context and in-depth understanding of the workflow of individual organisations... So there's a huge opportunity in infusing specific context, domain and workflow understanding of organisations into that to make it relevant and really drive production scale. So, I find that presents a huge opportunity for companies," Premji said. 

"There's so much money being spent on infrastructure in many markets, including India and Europe, but ultimately somebody has to drive consumption of that infrastructure to drive returns for organisations. And I think the technology services companies from India have a huge chance to drive their adoption by helping enterprises make use of these technologies at scale," he explained 

On whether India needs to focus on the foundational AI layer instead of the application layer and try and have a DeepSeek moment of its own, the Wipro chairman said it does not make sense for companies like his to invest in replicating those models. Value, he said, can be unlocked in how they can specialise them. 

"So the value is in building highly specialised small language models. We had a conversation yesterday where you can build models that have 50 billion parameters and can do effectively 95% of the work that most large language models can do. So you can be highly specialised. There's a huge opportunity for enterprises to build highly specialised small language models. There's an opportunity for countries like India," he said. 

"These models can be for areas of importance like healthcare, education, agriculture and governance. So there's a huge play in just driving that specialisation as well as focusing on multilingual models. We have a huge opportunity to serve many different languages in our country. And so we, as a company, should focus on where our strengths lie, like talent on scale... We often get hugely focused on building out the technology. The magic is in the implementation of the technology," he maintained. 

India, Premji said, can become the scale deployment engine of the world and also build talent for AI globally, which is a big challenge. 

'Can Catch Up'

Asked whether he agreed with some commentators who say India has missed the AI bus, Premji asserted that is not the case. 

"The AI bus is still very early. A lot of the investments have happened in the infrastructure layer. They haven't happened in the adoption layer. That journey is going to unfold over the next five, seven, ten years. I think there's a huge opportunity for us as companies and as a country to participate in that journey," Premji emphasised.

"I don't believe at all that we have missed the bus. I think the bus is very much in starting mode and we can catch up and jump onto that bus quite easily without falling down," he added.

Layoffs?

To a question on layoffs at IT organisations and how AI will impact the employment environment, Premji said technology services companies have not seen a reduction in the number of people and have actually added more employees over the past few years. 

Jobs, he said, can largely be categorised in four buckets. 

"One is jobs that will get disrupted because of AI, and we have to accept that. Bucket number two is jobs that will get enhanced by AI, so you work with machines and humans to drive that impactfully. Three is jobs that will get created because of AI, and four will be human-only jobs. So we have to think of bucket one and figure out how we can retrain, repurpose those people -  through the right skilling, through the right opportunities - to move into buckets two and three," he said. 

The biggest challenge, the Wipro chairman explained, is getting people to adopt AI, and the people most at risk are those who don't do so. 

"I think it's the responsibility of organisations, industry and government to really give people the comfort that this change is important. AI fluency is the new digital currency. You have to be AI fluent to be relevant to do any kind of job going forward. So it's about how we can help people build those skills. They need to understand that if they disrupt what they are doing today, they still have a future, because the system will beat them anyway if they don't," he maintained.

Tackling Uncertainty

The uncertainty brought in by decisions taken by US President Donald Trump is now much more controlled, Premji said, because people and global companies like his have factored it into their calculus. 

"There was perhaps a little bit of a hiccup in April-May last year when the whole trade discussion unfolded, but I think customers have now learned to move forward knowing that this may be more uncertain than they had planned for," he said. 

"On the situation around visas and immigration, all of us are navigating that by leveraging the talent we already have and focusing more and more on local employment and local hiring. Almost 80% of our talent in the US is local, so we're not as concerned about that. We also focus on building talent locally everywhere in the world, like we have done in India," he added.

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Video Shows How Northeast Trains Stay Clean, Passengers Collect Trash In Bags

Citizens exhibiting a disregard for cleanliness, especially in public places, is a topic of intense discussion in India. The passenger trains often witness the worst side of Indian travellers who litter without a care and unload the responsibility of maintaining sanitation on the authorities. While debates about the lack of civic sense continue, the North East region of the country has once again led from the front and highlighted how a progressive society should operate.

Shared on Instagram by a user named @daily.passenger, the widely shared video shows passengers on the Aizawl-Guwahati train taking personal initiative to keep their surroundings clean. They were seen diligently collecting their waste in bags, demonstrating a high level of civic awareness without needing reminders or enforcement from the authorities.

"People were tying their waste in small bags and hanging them neatly beside their seats. No announcements. No instructions from the railways. Just a habit," read the caption accompanying the video.

"As someone from North India, this made me reflect deeply. We often complain about dirty trains and roads, but rarely question our own behaviour. Clean spaces do not stay clean because of authorities alone. They stay clean because people choose to care. There is so much to learn from Mizoram and the North East. Respect for public spaces is not a campaign. It is a way of life."

Check The Viral Clip Here:

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A post shared by A (@daily.passenger)

Also Read | Meet Veronika, First Cow In Human History Known To Use Tools

'So Much To Learn'

As the video went viral, social media users lauded the passengers for keeping the train clean and hoped that passengers in other regions of the country would learn from their behaviour.

"There is so much to learn for all of us from our fellow Indians of the North East," said one user, while another added: "It's not about the area but the civic sense of people.

A third commented: "This is great to see from them. I'm from Tamil Nadu. I appreciate that and hopefully it is followed across India. I request one thing that the trash is desposed in a safe way, instead of throwing it out on the tracks @irctc.official."

A fourth said: "We were told since childhood to carry our waste in our pockets or bags and throw it into a dustbin when we see one."

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