Budhia Singh

Budhia Singh was born in Orissa in 2002. His mother, Sukanti, works as a caretaker in a hostel at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology. His father died at an early age. Biranchi reimbursed the salesman's purchase price of Singh and the child came to live with Das and his other orphans at a local Judo Hall. Singh's mother disputes this version of events, saying "We did not have anything but yet, I never sold [him]." Singh himself claims that he met Das after attending his sister's judo class, and that Das never ran an orphanage, although he did sometimes allow his students to stay at the gym. After running a record-breaking marathon, Budhia was admitted to the SAI sports hostel in Bhubaneswar. However, he "felt like he was lodged in a jail." After staying in the hostel for almost nine years, Budhia is now at home, living with his mother, Sukanti Singh, and his sisters. ==Career and controversy==

Budhia's running ability has led to celebrity status and he appeared in a number of television commercials. These commercials and Budhia's fame allegedly led to significant financial gains for Das, which led to accusations of exploitation. An inquiry by Indian child welfare officials was launched in January 2006; Das refuted the allegations. A feature-length documentary called Marathon Boy was released in 2011 that focused on Singh and Das's relationship over a five-year period from 2006. The documentary was funded by HBO & BBC Storyville, and was nominated for an Emmy. In the film, Budhia makes a withdrawal of his accusations against Das. Singh was no longer running long distances by the age of 13 in 2015, and was running one or two hours of conditional training per day. Singh himself has said that he would like to one day represent India at the Olympics in the men's marathon. ==Murder of Biranchi Das==

Das was shot dead at Buxi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar College on the evening of 13 April 2008. According to police, Das was sitting inside the judo centre with friends after a training session at the time of the attack. Das's murder was not related to his treatment of Singh; it resulted after Das incurred the wrath of a gangster, Raja Acharya, after Das reportedly tried to defend a model, Leslie Tripathy, who was allegedly being harassed by Raja. Das's murderers, Sandeep Acharya (alias Raja), and his associate, Akshya Behera, (alias Chagala) were sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2010. The sports hostel Singh was staying at did not allow him to attend Das's funeral. ==Biographical film==

A biographical film of Singh and Das's relationship, Budhia Singh – Born to Run, was directed by Soumendra Padhi and released in 2016. It starred Mayur Patole as Singh and Manoj Bajpayee as Das. The Film won the Best Children's Film award at the 63rd National Film Awards. ==References==