A Highland hotelier is now claiming a video of him apparently speeding at 100mph in his Bentley may have been “manipulated” after his YouTube account was “hacked”.
Ruchir Gupta, who bought Kincraig Castle Hotel at Invergordon in March last year, is being investigated for allegedly overtaking cars at more than 100mph near Alness.
In a now-deleted video on Mr Gupta’s YouTube channel, the 49-year-old is seen behind the wheel of his £200,000 limited edition Bentley Continental Supersport with the speedometer reaching a speed of 160kmph, or 100mph.
When The Press and Journal contacted the wealthy property tycoon, the YouTube video swiftly vanished from public view. It was later replaced by an almost identical one with all the potentially incriminating footage edited out.
Now, in a series of posts on his prestigious hotel’s Instagram account, Mr Gupta accuses the local man who reported him of “illegally” obtaining “private” footage and doctoring the footage to make it look like he was speeding.
Millionaire blasts ‘secret admirer’ complainant’s ‘envy’
Referring to the man as “Lazy John” and his “secret admirer”, Mr Gupta said he “seems to be watching everything we post on our Social Media & Youtube Channel.”
He added: “It would be nice to finally meet ‘Lazy John’ so he can finally be encouraged to get a real job and improve the local economy by contributing to it, like we do.”
In another post, Mr Gupta said: “The same John then apparently hacked into our Youtube account, forcing our Editor to change his password, and illegally obtained some private footage from our Youtube account, which may or may not have been manipulated by him thereafter”.
He went on to state: “One would imagine that Lazy John really needs to get off the Social Benefits & get a real job, rather than stalking local businessmen trying to add to the local economy. Why not use their hard work as inspiration, instead of envy”.
Another post on the hotel’s Instagram brags that the publicity surrounding the alleged driving offence has boosted the popularity of Mr Gupta’s other videos.
It reads: “So Lazy John as you are probably reading this, and watching all our SM posts as you always do … we are now desperately waiting for the next ‘envy laced’ malicious confidential complaint to the Police from you.
“After you & P&J posting your ‘tabloid style’ falsehoods on Social Media we have had hundreds of more views on our Business Jet Episodes, while not many people at all watched the ‘driving episode’.
“So Thanks for making us more popular 👍. Do not give up your efforts to bring us down. They actually have the exact opposite effect.😀”
Police investigators from the traffic offences unit based in Dingwall have begun reviewing a copy of the YouTube video in question, which had already been archived by John before it became unavailable online.
Reacting to the Instagram allegations, Mr Gupta’s accuser, who only wants to be known as John, said: “That’s ridiculous. There was no hacking of a YouTube channel for any ‘manipulation’ to be done to the video.
“The video was public for all to see and was seen by the P&J on Mr Gupta’s own YouTube channel before it was removed and the parts that potentially featured dangerous driving were edited out.
“The video was simply downloaded via one of many online websites that allow YouTube videos to be downloaded purely so it could be passed along to the police before Mr Gupta could potentially try to hide the evidence once confronted with it.”
Regarding personal attacks on the hotel’s Instagram page, John said: “I’m glad he finds it so amusing that a member of the public would find possible law-breaking inappropriate when there are so many deaths on the roads here, many due to speeding and reckless driving.”
Mr Gupta once again declined to comment when our reporter asked him whether he could provide any evidence to support his latest claims.
Police Scotland has not received any further complaints regarding the case or any alleging video manipulation.
A spokeswoman for Police Scotland previously said: “Around 7.20pm on Monday 15 April 2024, we received a report of concern regarding speeding in Easter Ross.
“Enquiries are ongoing to establish if any offences have been committed.
“Officers from the Road Policing Unit patrol these routes on a regular basis and if anyone has any information or concerns about driver behaviour, they should report this to Police Scotland on 101.”
WATCH – the contentious video:
Potentially incriminating footage from the contentious video, which was first published on Mr Gupta’s ‘Richie on Tour’ YouTube channel on March 25 this year, is still available to watch on The Press and Journal’s website.
The millionaire jet-setter can be seen driving his Bentley, which cost more than £200,000 when it first launched in 2017, has a top speed of 209mph, and can accelerate from 0-60mph in just 3.4 seconds.
“It’s the fastest four-seater by top speed in the world,” Mr Gupta tells viewers, before appearing to accelerate more than 40mph above the limit to overtake two cars 10 miles from Alness.
During the overtake, the speedometer can be seen in the 12 o’clock position, indicating a speed of 160kmph, or 100mph.
READ MORE: YouTube video puts wealthy businessman under police investigation for alleged speeding
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