Who is Amritpal Singh Dhillon, the NRI SUV driver arrested in Fauja Singh hit-and-run case?

The man who drove the SUV that allegedly ran over and killed Fauja Singh, the world's oldest marathoner, has been arrested, police said on Wednesday.

 

Amritpal Singh Dhillon, from Dasupur in Kartarpur, has been identified as the accused, and his vehicle – a Punjab-registered Toyota Fortuner – has also been seized. He is being questioned, and a probe is underway.

 

Dhillon, a non-resident Indian (NRI), was reportedly going from Bhogpur to Kishahgarh on Monday when he hit 114-year-old Singh while he walking down the Jalandhar-Pathankot highway. Eyewitnesses said he was tossed 5-7 feet in the air after being hit by the vehicle.

 

Though he was taken to the hospital, Singh succumbed to injuries on Monday evening.

 

An FIR was registered against the driver under sections 281 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, police said.

 

PTI quoted sources as saying that Dhillon’s family lives abroad and that he had returned to his native place recently.

 

The Punjab-registered Toyota Fortuner was identified from CCTV footage and with fragments of the vehicle's headlight recovered from the accident spot, Senior Superintendent of Police, Jalandhar Rural, Harvinder Singh, told PTI yesterday. He had also added that the ownership of the vehicle had changed more than once, indicating resale.

 

Who was Fauja Singh, the ‘Turbaned Tornado’?

 

That leaders cutting across party lines mourned the death of the marathoner, speaks volumes of his popularity. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini, several prominent personalities paid tributes to Fauja Singh.

 

Born in 1911 into a family of farmers, Singh’s career as a marathon runner began at the age of 89, and he soon caught the world’s attention with his age-defying runs, earning him the nickname ‘Turbaned Tornado’.

 

Singh became the first centenarian to complete a marathon, and ran marathons in London, New York and Hong Kong.

 

Singh spent most of his running career in Britain and returned to his native village around three years ago after retiring.

India