'Didn't know I hit Fauja Singh': Canada-returned man held for marathoner's hit-&-run death

Jalandhar: The driver who fatally struck iconic marathoner Fauja Singh on Jalandhar-Pathankot national highway on Monday afternoon turned out to be a Canada-returned man , who sped away after leaving the 114-year-old to die, Punjab police said on Wednesday.

The suspect, 26-year-old Amritpal Singh Dhillon, was arrested from his home in Dasupur village near Kartarpur, around 20km from Jalandhar, on Tuesday night. The vehicle — a borrowed white Fortuner bearing a Punjab registration number — was seized.

According to Jalandhar-rural SSP H S Virk, Dhillon said he did not know it was Fauja Singh he had struck, and that he fled the scene because he was scared.

Police have charged him with culpable homicide and rash driving. The police FIR says the vehicle was speeding, and that Fauja Singh's life could have been saved had the driver taken him to hospital immediately rather than fleeing.

Fauja Singh's son, Harbinder Singh, said the driver should have stopped to help his injured father. "We would not have pursued a complaint against him had my father survived. But he should have stopped," he said.

Dhillon has told police that Fauja Singh was crossing the highway and he could not stop in time as the vehicle was going fast, said Virk. He was returning home from Bhogpur, a 16km drive that passed via Beas Pind village. As reported by TOI on Wednesday, the marathoner was walking towards his family dhaba across the road, when he was struck.

During questioning, Dhillon revealed that it was only at night, when TV channels started reporting Fauja Singh's death, that he realised who he had hit and run, said the SSP.

According to police officers, Dhillon claimed he felt very guilty after that. However, he did not come forward to take responsibility for the death that was mourned by the world.

It took meticulous detective work to track down the vehicle and the driver.

At a press conference on Wednesday, SSP Virk said an eyewitness told police that the vehicle that hit Fauja Singh could have been an Innova or a Fortuner. "We recovered a damaged part of a headlight and when we checked with Toyota agencies, we were told that it could be an old Fortuner from the 2009, 2010, or 2011 models. Then, from CCTV footage, we zeroed in on a Fortuner and also found a damaged headlight in one particular CCTV footage. We found the registration number from CCTV footage. Investigations revealed that the vehicle had been sold a couple of times," he said.

By Tuesday, police felt sure they had the right suspect. And the same night, a police team landed up at Dhillon's doorstep.

The SSP said Dhillon had gone to Canada on a tourist visa eight years ago and stayed back on getting a work permit. His sisters live there, too. He was in the construction business and has a work visa until 2027. He had come to India on June 23 on an emergency certificate as he lost his passport.

Three weeks into his homecoming, he is now behind bars, accused of killing a legend who seemed to outpace time. Dhillon was produced in a local court on Wednesday and remanded in jail.

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