SINGAPORE: A woman made the news this week for writing a long post on LinkedIn about her delightful “chance encounter” with former DBS chief Piyush Gupta, only for him to show up in the comments section to say that the man Janney Hujic had met with had not, in actuality, been him.
Now, it has emerged that the man whom Ms Hujic had spoken to and whose picture she had posted had told her who he was, which would imply that she was aware he was not Mr Gupta when she posted it.
The man in the photo, a 58-year-old named Kumar H Subramaniam, commented on a Facebook post from Wake Up Singapore to set the record straight, especially after commenters had called him out for not having identified himself to Ms Hujic.
He wrote that he had been having lunch at a cafe in Bali, where he lives, when a man, who was also having a meal there with his partner, asked him if he was Mr Gupta. Mr Subramaniam said no and added that he has been mistaken for the former DBS head in the past.
Ms Hujic then asked to take a photo with him, to which he agreed.
“She and her guy mentioned that they had worked at DBS before, and we joked about her pranking her friends that she had bumped into Mr Gupta by chance in public while on their holiday here,” he wrote, adding that he had “never, at any point,” said “that he was indeed Mr Gupta.”
Moreover, he had also never agreed to have his photo used to promote any business or social venture, and he does not condone using a resemblance to Mr Gupta to mislead anyone, most importantly, the former DBS chief himself.
“Not every bald, Indian man wearing glasses is me or Mr Gupta. I am not associated with anything the young lady is advocating or promoting. Mr Gupta, I would like to state unconditionally that I did NOT say I was he,” he added.
Ms Hujic has yet to comment on the latest developments, but a message from her team was posted on Thursday (May 22).
“𝐔𝐏𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐉𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐘 𝐇𝐔𝐉𝐈𝐂’𝐬 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐌: She is away on an expedition at the Vietnamese Wild Tú Làn Cave, where there is no internet, and will be back online on Sunday to tell her side of the story.
Be assured that she tagged Piyush with the hope that he would respond to her post, fully thinking that she had spoken with him. Yes, GPT might have been used to improve the wording, as this was a once-in-a-lifetime encounter for her. But at no point was there any intention to deceive anyone. Please hold your thoughts until she has put her side of the story. We appreciate it.” /TISG