In a tragic turn of events, 114-year-old marathon icon Fauja Singh, fondly remembered as the Turbaned Tornado, died after being struck by a speeding vehicle in Punjab’s Jalandhar district on Monday. The driver, Amritpal Singh Dhillon, a 26-year-old Indian-origin man who lives and works in Canada, has been arrested by Punjab Police.
The incident occurred around 3 PM on July 14 in Beas village, where Fauja Singh had gone for his routine post-lunch walk. According to the police, Dhillon was driving a white Toyota Fortuner SUV at high speed when he hit the elderly athlete. Shockingly, instead of helping the injured Singh, Dhillon fled the scene and hid the vehicle in a garage. Singh was rushed to Shriman Hospital but succumbed to his injuries around 7 PM.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Rural), Harvinder Singh Virk, confirmed that Dhillon was arrested from his house. “He works in Canada and had returned to India on June 23 for the construction of his house. After watching the news, he realized that the person he had hit was none other than Fauja Singh,” Virk said. Dhillon’s mother and sister are settled in Canada, and he is a resident of Dasupur in Kartarpur.
The arrest came after police identified the SUV through a list of suspect vehicles. The Fortuner was originally registered to Varinder Singh, a Kapurthala resident, who revealed during questioning that he had sold the car to Dhillon two years ago.
Witnesses from the village reported that the force of the impact tossed Fauja Singh 5 to 7 feet into the air. The FIR registered against Dhillon includes Section 281 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The passing of Fauja Singh, who inspired millions worldwide with his late-blooming marathon career and vibrant spirit, has left a void in the world of athletics and among admirers globally.
