Fauja Singh hit-and-run: Accused NRI says he learnt victim’s identity only after seeing TV news; claims he fled out of fear

JALANDHAR: The man accused in the hit-and-run that killed Fauja Singh — the world’s oldest marathon runner — told police he realised only later that the victim was Singh, after seeing television reports about his death.

“In questioning he revealed that it was only in the night that he came to know that the person he hit was Fauja Singh, after TV channels reported his death, which caused him stress and tension,” a senior police official said. Police in Punjab arrested the suspect, Amritpal Singh Dhillon, from his home in Dasupur village, near Kartarpur in Jalandhar district, on Tuesday night. Dhillon, 26, told investigators he had been returning from Bhogpur when the accident occurred.

Rather than stopping to help Singh, he fled the scene — an action police say could have cost the elderly runner his life. A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and rash driving has been registered. Jalandhar Rural SSP H S Virk said that an eyewitness had initially reported the vehicle involved could be either an Innova or a Fortuner. “We recovered a damaged part of the vehicle and when we checked with Toyota agencies, we were told that it could be an old Fortuner of 2009, 10, 11 models.

After which from CCTV footage, we zeroed in on a Fortuner which had a damaged headlight. Then we found the registration number of the vehicle from another CCTV footage. The vehicle was sold out a couple of times,” he said. The accused had been living in Canada for the last eight years, police said, having first gone there on a tourist visa before securing a work permit. He worked in construction and his permit was valid until 2027. Dhillon had come to India on 23 June using an emergency certificate, having lost his passport. “He should have stopped there to help the injured but he sped away and we registered a case for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and of rash driving,” SSP Virk said. Dhillon reportedly told police that he was frightened and drove off in panic after hitting Singh. “He said that he sped away from the scene as he was himself scared after the accident,” Virk said.

Officials said the guilt set in later, once he saw news of Fauja Singh’s death. He was located at his residence, and the vehicle — with visible damage — was also found there, officials said. Police confirmed that Dhillon had no prior criminal cases against him. Singh’s son, Harbinder Singh, said the family may have acted differently had the driver helped. “We would not have pursued complaint against him had my father survived. But he should have stopped, if a mistake had happened, he did not have any enmity with us,” he said.