The world’s oldest marathon runner, Fauja Singh, was killed in a road accident early this week. An NRI from Canada has been arrested for ramming his car into the 114-year-old celebrity, who was crossing the road in his native village, on the Jalandhar-Pathankot highway in Punjab.

Popularly called ‘Turbaned Tornado’, Singh suffered head injuries and died in the hospital hours later.

A Punjab-registered Toyota Fortuner, driven by the NRI, was identified from CCTV footage as the cause of the accident. Amritpal Singh Dhillon, 26, admitted to the crime and was arrested soon after.

Singh, born on April 1, 1911, was from a farming family in Punjab. He moved to England in the early 90s where he took up running in 1994 following his son’s death.

When he was 89, he participated in the London marathon. There has been no turning back since then. The marathons in New York and Hong Kong gave him more visibility. His most memorable marathon, however, was in Toronto when he was 100. Singh retired from competitive running in 2013.

Dhillon, responsible for Singh’s death, was originally from Kartarpur in Jalandhar. He was on a short visit to India when the incident occurred leading to his arrest. – Photo: Wikipedia – editor@nrifocus.com