The controversial coach of a young boy who ran a marathon in an attempt to set a world record was shot dead by a gunmen in eastern India, police said Monday.

Biranchi Das and then 4-year-old Budhia Singh became instant celebrities in record-crazy India when the boy attempted to run a 43-mile marathon in 2006. But last August, Das was charged with torturing the child after the boy’s mother said she discovered scars on her son’s body. Das had denied the charges.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Amitabh Thakur said Das was shot by gunmen on a motorcycle late Sunday outside his training center in the city of Bhubaneshwar. Thakur said it was unlikely the attack had anything to do with the boy, and that Das, 40, may have been involved in a dispute with local criminals.

The torture case had not come to trial, a process that sometimes takes years in India, and Das had been free on bail. Das had denied the charges against him and said he had rescued the Singh from a slum after the boy’s mother was close to selling him to another villager for $15.

But it wasn’t the first time claims of abuse had surfaced. During the 43-mile marathon in 2006, doctors stopped the boy after 40 miles when he showed signs of extreme exhaustion. They later found the child to be undernourished, anemic and under cardiac stress.

Speaking to reporters after hearing of the killing, a tearful Singh, now 6, refused to comment on the torture allegations, saying everyone should just forget them. He said Das was like a father to him and he would always miss him.

“He used to take care of me like a son,” he said.