CHENNAI: A car driver and a passenger had a close shave on Monday as their vehicle was completely gutted on GST Road at Meenambakkam.
According to the police, the airconditioned Indica belonged to Subayatra Travel Agency at Mylapore.
Driver Sudhakar had taken the car to the domestic terminal of the city airport to receive a client who was to arrive from Mumbai. Sudhakar had plugged in his mobile phone for charging into a socket in the car and parked it in the airport with its ignition switched on. After receiving the client, when Sudhakar returned to the car, he found smoke emanating from the plug point. He removed the plug and the mobile phone and proceeded towards the city in the car with the client.
On GST Road, Sudhakar noticed more smoke emanating from the plug point. He alerted the client, stopped the car in the middle of the road and got down along with the passenger. Minutes later, the car caught fire. By the time the Tambaram fire station officials arrived, the car was completely gutted. Meanwhile, the driver had left the spot to help the client reach his destination in another vehicle and returned after an hour.
Though the car was pushed to the corner of the road near Thirusulum railway station, the driver refused to file a police complaint.
When the Meenambakkam police asked him to do so, he said the vehicle owner was on his way to the police station to file a complaint.
However, no complaint was filed, the police said.