Bajaj Chetak electric scooter catches fire, company launches probe

Fire officials on Monday said a Bajaj Chetak electric scooter caught fire while it was parked on the roadside at Ichalkaranji in Kolhapur district of western Maharashtra.

Nobody was injured in the incident, which happened on Friday, an official said.

The scooter maker Bajaj Auto said it has initiated a probe.

"We are aware of the incident reported today involving our scooter. The safety of our customers is our highest priority. Our team is already in touch with the affected customer and providing complete support.

"We have initiated a thorough investigation to understand the cause, and will share updates responsibly as soon as possible," Bajaj Auto said in a statement.

Akshay Kale, a Bajaj Chetak dealer in Ichalkaranji, said, "Since the bike has a metal body, only the wiring and harness were affected by the fire." The incident took place in Vikas Nagar around 9.30 pm after the owner of the e-scooter parked it and went to buy something.

"Some people informed us that a bike had caught fire. Immediately, a water tanker was dispatched and the blaze was doused," said Dagadu Jadhav of the Ichalkaranji fire department.

He said the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. The e-bike was a year old and had completed 10,000 km.

After a similar incident in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in December last year, the company had announced that there was no fire involving Chetak electric scooter and the event was merely limited to smoke emissions from a plastic component.

The Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar incident had come days after the company CEO Rajiv Bajaj's "Ola toh Ola hai, Chetak shola hai" jibe targeting rival Ola scooters.