Fauja Singh hit-and-run case: Punjab Police arrests NRI suspect, claims he was 'unaware' of who the victim was
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Fauja Singh hit-and-run case: Punjab Police arrests NRI suspect, claims he was 'unaware' of who the victim was")
Fauja Singh hit-and-run case: Punjab Police arrests NRI suspect, claims he was 'unaware' of who the victim was Photograph: (AFP)
The Punjab Police has moved swiftly in the last 30 hours as they arrested key accused Non-Resident Indian (NRI) Amritpal Singh Dhillon in the hit-and-run case of legendary marathon runner Fauja Singh late on Tuesday (July 15).
The Punjab Police has moved swiftly in the last 30 hours as they arrested key accused Non-Resident Indian (NRI) Amritpal Singh Dhillon in the hit-and-run case of legendary marathon runner Fauja Singh late on Tuesday (July 15). The 114-year-old marathon racer was killed in a car accident on Monday. The accused is a resident of Kartarpur in Jalandhar and allegedly killed Fauja with his Fortuner SUV and is now under interrogation at the Bhogpur police station.
NRI arrested in Fauja Singh
"The accused has been identified as Amritpal Singh Dhillon ,and he is 26 years old. He works in Canada and returned to India on June 23 for the construction of his house. His sister and mother are settled in Canada. The incident took place on July 14, and after hitting Fauja Singh, he fled from the spot and parked his car in a garage. We arrested him from his house yesterday. After watching the news, he came to know that the person he hit was Fauja Singh..." SSP Rural Harvinder Singh Virk said.
The accident happened on Monday evening as the Punjab Police had been on a manhunt for the accused, who had used a Fortuner SUV. After hours of searching, the accused was arrested late on Tuesday and confessed to the crime. However, during the initial investigation, Dhillon claimed that he was unaware of who the victim was and instead chose to run away from the accident site.
Moving swiftly, the Punjab Police arrested Dhillon and are expected to present him in court on Wednesday. The accused claimed that the unfortunate incident happened when he was returning from Mukerian after selling his phone, when his vehicle struck an elderly person near Bias Pind. It was later revealed that the victim of the accident was legendary marathon runner Fauja Singh.
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Who was Fauja Singh?
Born on 1 April 1911, Fauja became a global icon when he started running marathons at the age of 89, after having migrated to the UK in 1993 after the death of his wife, Gian Kaur. According to his autobiography, 'Turbaned Tornado', Fauja started running to cope with depression after the deaths of some of his family members, including his wife.
Fauja started with long walks in Ilford public parks before switching to running longer distances. Fauja's late-life passion for running was all the more exceptional because, as he would go on to tell, as a child, he had been very ill and had struggled to walk until he was five years old. Following a meeting with marathon trainer Harmandar Singh, Fauja was trained for the marathon distance with the aim of running for charity.
