'Saw On News I Ran Over Fauja Singh': NRI Who Hit Runner With Fortuner
A Canada-based man arrested for allegedly running over Fauja Singh has told the police that he didn't know the victim was the world's oldest marathoner, sources said on Wednesday.
The accused, Amritpal Singh Dhillon, said that he learnt about the death of 114-year-old Singh through the news.
The 26-year-old was arrested for allegedly ramming his car into Singh, popularly known as 'Turbaned Tornado', on a highway in the veteran runner's native village of Bias in Punjab's Jalandhar district on Monday.
Dhillon was caught at his Kartarpur home, and his vehicle, a Punjab-registered Toyota Fortuner, has also been seized.
The accused had come to India on June 23, senior police officer Harvinder Singh Virk told a press conference after his arrest.
Dhillon had gone to Canada on a tourist visa but got a work permit there, which is valid till 2027, the officer said.
He said that Dhillon was speeding as he was in a hurry for some work.
"He got scared after hitting Fauja Singh, and that is why he did not stop his car at the spot," Mr Virk said.
Mr Virk said it was Dhillon's responsibility to stop the vehicle at the time of the accident and should have taken Fauja Singh to a hospital.
How Fauja Singh Killer Was Arrested
Multiple teams of the police zeroed in on Amritpal Singh Dhillon after his car was identified using CCTV footage.
"We found some parts of the car from the crime scene. The pieces were then shown to the experts, who said the vehicle was an old model of a Toyota Fortuner," Mr Virk told reporters.
"When we scanned the CCTV, the part recovered was missing from a Fortuner vehicle. We were then confident that the accident happened with the said vehicle," he said.
The number plate revealed that the vehicle was registered in the name of Varinder Singh, a resident of Kapurthala.
The police then interrogated Singh, who said he had sold his car to the accused. Dhillon was then caught in his village and admitted to the crime.
He also told police that he had got one of the tyres of the SUV changed on the day of the incident.
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