Punjab Police on Wednesday arrested a 30-year-old Canadian, Amritpal Singh, for his role in a hit-and-run incident in which an elderly man, Fauja Singh, who was 114 years old and an international marathon icon popularly referred to as the ‘Turbaned Tornado’ and ‘Sikh Superman’, lost his life.
The arrest was made within hours of the police confirming that a Toyota Fortuner SUV (PB 20C 7100) rammed Singh while he was crossing a road at Beas village in Jalandhar district on Monday afternoon.
Police Use CCTV Footage to Identify Vehicle
Jalandhar Rural Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Harvinder Singh Virk stated that the CCTV footage of the surrounding area was instrumental in determining the vehicle and its subsequent return to the accused.
Fauja Singh was taken to a private hospital in Jalandhar straight away after being gravely injured in the head, but he later died from his injuries.
“Despite being taken to a nearby private hospital in a hurry, his pulse rate came down significantly by Monday evening and the medical staff could not resuscitate him,” his son Harvinder Singh informed reporters.
Accused Admits to Hit-and-Run, Claims He Was Unaware
As per early reports, Amritpal Singh, a resident of Dasupur village in Kartarpura sub-division, was in India from Canada only eight days ago. He had bought the white Toyota Fortuner recently from a Kapurthala resident, as has been verified by authorities.
The accident is said to have happened when Singh was driving from Bhogpur to Kishangarh. As per PTI, he told that he was on his way home from selling his mobile phone when the accident happened.
Singh was arrested from his village and confessed to the crime under interrogation. According to NDTV, he confessed to assaulting the elderly runner. India Today also reported that Singh claimed he had no knowledge that the victim was Fauja Singh when he attacked him but realized it only after reading about it in the news.
Fauja Singh: An Icon of Resilience
Fauja Singh took up marathons when he was 81 years old, getting into the sport after his fifth son died in 1994. He used to say, “Running is the best exercise to deal with emotional pain.” His life is an inspiration for millions of people worldwide.
