Delhi: A flashy red Lamborghini Huracan, with a ‘Jai Shree Ram’ sticker on its bonnet, added to the popularity of YouTuber Mridul Tiwari. Last year, the 24-year-old, who has roughly 18 million followers on YouTube, posted an Instagram video flaunting his Rs three-crore luxury car. He promised fans he would paste such a sticker if his video reached two million views. In a day, the video had crossed three million views.
Soon after, Tiwari fulfilled his promise, slapping a white sticker on his bonnet. “The car became very popular. Everyone started talking about a Lamborghini with ‘Jai Shree Ram’ written on it,” he said to YouTuber Her Garage in a video interview, which has garnered 22 lakh views. His brother, Nitin Tiwari, posted a video titled ‘1st Lamborghini in the world with Jai Shree Ram’, which has amassed 4.5 lakh views.
On 30 March evening, the sports car, once a head-turner on Noida streets, turned emblematic of the recklessness of privilege. The ‘Jai Shree Ram’ sticker is gone now.
On Sunday evening, in Noida’s Sector 94, the Lamborghini ploughed into two labourers sitting on the footpath near the Charkha roundabout. Rushed to the hospital with injuries, the duo is still under treatment.
Deepak, who was behind the wheel at the time of the accident, when confronted by passers-by, asked quite casually: “Someone died here?”
The police arrested Deepak after the accident, Bhupinder Singh, the station house officer of the Sector 126 police station, said. However, on Monday, the Surajpur district court granted bail to Deepak.
The video of the accident has gone viral on social media, sparking public condemnation. One commenter likened the accident to the 19 May 2024 Pune Porsche crash, which left two IT professionals dead. “Repeat story. This time, a Lamborghini car and yes, a rich brat,” read a post on ‘X’.
The police said the two labourers, natives of Jharkhand, were employed by an Engineering, Procurement and Construction company, Capacite. Dijna Ravidas and Shambhu Kumar took a break at 5 pm to rest on the pavement outside the M3M construction site on Sunday when the speeding Lamborghini rammed into them, according to the FIR.
The FIR was registered under sections 281 (rash driving) and 125(b) (endangering life and personal safety of others) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
The two labourers suffered leg fractures, said SHO Singh.
According to the police, Deepak, Mridul Tiwari’s friend and car dealer by profession, was planning to buy the famous Lamborghini of Noida. A resident of Ajmer in Rajasthan, Deepak had allegedly been test-driving the car when the accident happened. During the police interrogation, he allegedly said the accident occurred due to some “fault in the car”.
“The accused’s family lives in Ajmer. However, he frequently visits Noida to meet his friends for parties and enjoyment,” the SHO said.
Deepak is now out on bail, whereas Mridul Tiwari, once again, has the spotlight on him, but for the wrong reasons.
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The Lamborghini owner, Mridul Tiwari
Tiwari is part of a growing breed of YouTubers, hailing from affluent families and earning through videos catering to a young audience.
In the interview with YouTuber HerGarage, Tiwari boasted, “Humne padai kabhi ki nahi, poori kya karte. Hum seedha sapne poore karne nikal gaye. Investment and all papa ji karte reh gaye. Hum khel khilone mei lag gaye.(We never bothered with studies, let alone finishing them. We went straight to chasing dreams while our father kept handling the investments. We were too busy playing with toys.”
“Toy” is how he referred to the Lamborghini Huracan.
Just 25 days before purchasing his Lamborghini in 2023, Tiwari bought a Porsche. At the interview, he boasted that he had once driven the Porsche at 240 km/hr. However, after a scolding from his mother, he claimed to have never crossed 150 km/hr in the Lamborghini.
Mridul said, “It was a random plan to buy a Lamborghini. Driving such a car in your 20s has another feel.”
Mridul posts many short, 15-minute video series, often starring himself, on his YouTube channel. His latest video, a Holi special, shows him slowly chasing a woman through the fields to apply colour on her, with a Haryanvi love song playing in the background. The video, part of his series Love Marriage, has garnered 6.1 million views.
The Love Marriage series revolves around a rural Gujjar boy, played by Mridul. The boy falls in love with a woman and tries to convince her family to let them marry. In the videos, he affectionately calls his lover “Babu”. His brother also stars in the series, playing the role of a friend.
In one scene in Love Marriage, as he asks his lover to convince her mother, Mridul says, “Tell your mother I get 40k rent every month.”
Mridul has a following of youngsters who see him as an inspiration and eagerly wait for his videos, which are replete with comments such as, “Bhai, part 5 ka wait kar rahe hai. Jaldi upload kar do (Brother, we are waiting for part 5. Upload it soon).”
Other short series, such as Shaadi Phir Barbadi and School Life, have garnered 15 crore views.
In one of the comments, Mridul wrote, “Jo like nahi karega woh exam mei fail hoga (Whoever does not like this will fail their exam).”
In one of the videos, Mridul’s brother goes to a petrol pump station, where an employee recognises him and asks for a selfie. The employee excitedly tells Nitin that they regularly watch Mridul and his videos.
The crash video & accused Deepak
The video shows labourers in orange jackets and safety helmets running towards the accident site where the speeding Lamborghini mounted the pavement and injured their colleagues.
One of the workers, visibly shaken, opens the car door and asks Deepak, “Kya bhai, zyada stunt dikha rahe ho? Tumko pata hai kitne log maar gaye yahan (What, brother, showing off too many stunts? Do you know how many people have died here?).”
Deepak, with a stud in his left ear and a Calvin Klein bag on the passenger seat, unbuckles his seatbelt and casually asks, “Koi maar gaye idhar (Someone died here)?” The man filming the video responds, “Haan, dekh udhar (Yes, look over there).”
Moments later, with an iPhone in his hand, Deepak steps out of the car, claiming that he only gave “halka sa race (a slight acceleration)”. The man recording shouts, “Police ko bulao (Call the police)!”
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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