Agra tragedy: Elderly couple killed as e-scooter battery explodes, granddaughter survives

A late-night fire claimed the lives of an elderly couple in Agra’s Laxmi Nagar area on Tuesday, while their 14-year-old granddaughter escaped unhurt. The blaze is suspected to have started from an e-scooter left charging indoors by their son.

Lohamandi ACP Mayank Tiwari said police reached the spot promptly and evacuated other members of the family, but the elderly victims could not be saved. “Prima facie, it appears that a short circuit triggered the fire. No formal complaint has been filed yet, but an FIR will be registered if the family submits one,” he said.

The incident took place around 4 am. The victims, Bhagwati Prasad (95) and Urmila Devi (85), were sleeping on the ground floor with their granddaughter, Kakul, when smoke filled the house. Kakul managed to run upstairs to alert her parents. Neighbours rushed in to help, but the flames had already spread by then.


Prasad died at the scene, while Urmila sustained severe burns and succumbed to her injuries about 90 minutes later.

Pramod Agarwal, the victims’ son and a grocery shop owner, said he had plugged in the e-scooter for charging at around 1:30 am. “My parents were sleeping near it. When I rushed downstairs after hearing the commotion, the battery had already exploded and the area was on fire. Neighbours helped me pull my parents out. My father had died on the spot and my mother passed away while being taken to hospital,” he said.

Agarwal blamed the manufacturer for the tragedy, stating that the scooter’s battery was still under warranty when it exploded. “I hold the company responsible for my parents’ death,” he alleged.