An 80-year-old man died while two others suffered burn injuries when the battery of an electric two-wheeler exploded in their house in Telangana’s Nizamabad district late on Tuesday night, April 19. The deceased was identified as B Ramaswamy. According to the police, his son, B Prakash, had been using the EV scooter for one year.
Police said the incident happened when the detachable battery of the electric vehicle (EV), which was being charged indoors, burst into flames on Tuesday night. Ramaswamy was sleeping in the living room where the battery was being charged and sustained injuries when the battery exploded around 4 am.
Ramaswamy was rushed to a private hospital in Nizamabad where his condition worsened, and he was then referred to a hospital in Hyderabad for better treatment but succumbed to his injuries on the way. Police have registered a case under Section 304A (causing death due to negligence) of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) against the manufacturer, Pure EV.
In its response, Pure EV said in a statement, “We deeply regret the incident and offer condolences to the family of the victim. Fully cooperating with the local authorities and seeking complete details from the user." The company added that they have no record of sale of this vehicle or service by the user in the database and are checking if the vehicle was purchased through a second hand sale.
There have been multiple instances of a Pure EV scooter catching fire. One Ola, two Okinawa and several Jitendra EV scooters have also caught fire recently.
Earlier in March, an electric scooter from Pure EV had caught fire on the outskirts of North Chennai near Mathur Toll plaza in the Manjampakkam area. In the 26-second video clip, thick smoke could be seen emanating from the red-coloured Pure EV electric scooter parked on the roadside.
On April 16, an Okinawa dealership burnt down to ashes in Chennai due to an electric short-circuit in the building. No casualties were reported and the fire was put out with the help of locals but the entire showroom on the main road in Kunrathur was gutted. Okinawa said in a statement shared with IANS that no EV scooter or battery fire started the incident, as was reported earlier.