Amritsar: An NRI from Canada has been arrested on charges of knocking down 114-year-old iconic marathon runner Fauja Singh on the Jalandhar-Pathankot Highway on Monday.
Fauja Singh, popularly known as the ‘Turbaned Tornado’, died of head injuries at a hospital, following which the police launched an operation to nab the driver of the white Toyota Fortuner involved in the accident.
The police said on Wednesday that Amritpal Singh Dhillon, a thirty-year-old non-resident Indian (NRI), has been arrested. The vehicle has also been seized.
Dhillon, originally from Kartarpur in Jalandhar, lived with his family in Canada. He came to India a week back.
“We used CCTV footage to trace the car to one Varinder Singh of Kapurthala. He had sold the vehicle to Dhillon, who has confessed. He said that he was returning home after selling his mobile phone when the accident occurred,” a police official said.
Dhillon also told the police he was not aware that the man he had knocked down was Fauja Singh at the time of the accident. He came to know about it through the news.
Fauja Singh was born on April 1, 1911, to a family of farmers and moved to England in the early 90s after the death of his wife. He took up running after his son died in 1994. In 2000, at the age of 89, he made his debut at the London marathon and went on to participate in Toronto, New York, and other cities within his age group.
He became the oldest man to run a full marathon in 2011 at the age of 100 in Toronto. He championed the cause of fitness ever since he took to running and soon turned into an inspiration for people less than half his age.
A torchbearer for the 2004 Athens Games and the 2012 London Olympics, Fauja Singh ran his last competitive race in 2013 at the age of 101, finishing the Hong Kong Marathon’s 10-kilometre race in 1 hour, 32 minutes, 28 seconds.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to Singh, saying he was “extraordinary because of his unique persona and the manner in which he inspired the youth of India on a very important topic of fitness”.
“He was an exceptional athlete with incredible determination. Pained by his passing away. My thoughts are with his family and countless admirers around the world,” the PM had posted on X.