Jamshedpur, May 4: A trader was killed when his SUV caught fire on Sunday morning near Bhatia Basti along Marine Drive Road in the Kadma area of Jamshedpur, police said.
The incident occurred when the vehicle, reportedly en route to Kadma Marine Drive, suddenly burst into flames. The driver, identified as Sunil Agarwal, a cement trader and resident of Vijaya Heritage Phase 6 in Kadma, was trapped inside the burning vehicle and died at the scene.
According to police, the central locking system of the SUV is suspected to have malfunctioned, preventing Agarwal from escaping. The body was badly charred, making initial identification difficult. Authorities confirmed his identity through the vehicle registration.
Local residents and morning walkers initially failed to notice that someone was inside the burning vehicle. Videos of the burning car circulated on social media as bystanders recorded the incident.
Police from Kadma station and a fire brigade team responded to the alert and extinguished the fire before recovering the driver’s remains from the front seat.
Kadma police station in-charge Alok Dubey said a gas cylinder was found in the vehicle and may have contributed to the fire. However, the exact cause will be determined following a forensic investigation.
Residents claimed that Agarwal had been transporting the cylinder to a friend’s house at the time of the incident.
