Canadian NRI arrested for running over veteran marathoner Fauja Singh

A day after the tragic death of 114-year-old marathoner Fauja Singh in an accident on Jalandhar-Pathankot National Highway, the Jalandhar Rural Police teams arrested the accused whose Fortuner had hit him before fleeing from the spot on Monday afternoon.

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The accused has been identified as  Canadian NRI Amritpal Singh Dhillon (26), who had returned to his native Dasupur village of the Kartarpur sub-tehsil in Jalandhar. He was arrested by the police teams from his place on Tuesday night.

He has reportedly confessed to the crime. Dhillon was going from Bhogpur to Kishangarh when the accident took place, said officials.

The Fortuner, bearing registration number Punjab-20-C-7100, that had hit the marathoner too has been recovered by the police. Cops have booked him under Sections 281 (negligent driving) and 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the BNS in the matter at the Adampur police station.

The vehicle involved in the hit-and-run case was identified from its missing parts. including headlight and a part of the bumper. that had fallen off at the spot after the accident. Since there was no CCTV coverage possible at the accident spot, the police teams spent hours culling CCTV footages from the stretch back and forth the accident spot.

"Eyewitnesses had told us that it was a white SUV which could be a Fortuner or an Innova that hit the veteran marathoner. We checked all videos after the spot to find the vehicles of these makes with a missing headlight and bumper part. We also found that this vehicle had the two parts intact ahead of the accident spot. This is how we were able to pinpoint the vehicle that hit Fauja Singh," said SSP Jalandhar Rural Harvinder S Virk.

Virk added, "It took our teams almost 24 hours to nab the accused as this vehicle had thrice changed hands. The data of the subsequent buyers was not available on the Transport Department portal."

The Punjab-20 was the RTO code for Balachaur in Nawanshahr, but the owner was found to be a resident of the Kartarpur area. The SSP and SP (Investigation) Sarabjit S Rai led the probe.

They said more details would be shared at a press conference scheduled for tomorrow morning.

The accident took place at 3.10 pm on Monday when Fauja Singh was crossing the Jalandhar-Pathankot National Highway near his place at Beas village to go to a dhaba owned by his family. The matter was reported to the police late last evening after the accident.

Meanwhile, the CCTV footage showing him going out of his place towards the highway went viral today. He is seen walking slowly but firmly with his stick.

Harvinder Singh, son of Fauja Singh, has been maintaining that he was not at home when the accident took place. "My father had a chapati and a cup of tea from my wife and left for the dhaba telling her. We used to often tell dad not to go alone towards the highway, but he was always adamant. The regret of losing our dad in an accident will always haunt us throughout our lives. Had he died a natural death, there would have been no remorse," he had said, showing his anger against the driver of the vehicle that hit him.

"He knew he had committed a crime, but he could have stopped, accepted his mistake and rushed our dad to hospital in time. May be he would not have bled so profusely and lived with us today," said Harvinder.