Easy Cabs taxi catches fire in Delhi; passenger jumps out of vehicle

Company said 'smoke billowed' out of the bonnet of the running car due to problems with its air-conditioning

In yet another instance of delinquency by a taxi company, a Delhi-based woman had a narrow escape as she had to jump out of a radiocab after it caught "fire" few kilometres away from the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

The incident happened on the night of August 18 when the woman, Prachi Kaul, availed the Hyundai Accent of 'Easy Cabs' on her return from Pune.

The woman's husband Kapil Kaul posted the details on Easy Cabs Facebook page which elicited a generic apology from the company saying it would "look into the matter".

When asked about the incident, Easy Cabs Chief Operating Officer Rajesh Munjal said "smoke billowed" out of the bonnet of the running car due to problems with its air-conditioning and that the car was "serviced two days back".

But available records say that the car, with vehicle number DL1RX6610, last went servicing two years ago, in April 2013.

The company later issued a statement saying "We wish to place on record that the car was not completely burnt as claimed by the complainant."

It "completely" regretted the inconvenience caused to the passenger and said "Being a customer centric company, we are obviously saddened by it and have immediately conducted a detailed investigation internally in the same."

"You (Easy Cabs) do not even care how your taxis are maintained. The cab stopped suddenly with the Driver (Jaypal) still trying to start it, in a fraction of minutes passing vehicle stopped and said that get out of the cab, as it is on FIRE for last 3-4kms. My wife jumped out of it and the whole cab caught fire. (sic)

"My wife is in so much trauma that she doesn't want to leave home or us, she is scared and probably scarred for life to ever take any cab," Kapil wrote.

Munjal admitted that passerbys did point out that smoke was coming out of the car and that it was also smelling from inside.

"The car is 2-3 years old. It developed a minor electrical issue and smoke started coming out. We offered alternative conveyance to her but she made her own arrangements. But allegations of fire is completely false," Munjal said.

This incident comes close on the heels of increasing cases of lack of passenger safety, particularly women security, by app-based cab service providers.