Prankster, friend held for offensive kissing video

New Delhi: Prankster Sumit Kumar Singh (20), who has a YouTube channel called The Crazy Sumit, was arrested on charges of obscenity in Gurgaon. He received sharp criticism after a video prank, where he kissed unsuspecting girls and flee, went viral on social media. His friend Satyajeet Kadyan (25), who was his cameraman and helped him record the prank, has also been arrested. The police has also recovered two laptops, a video camera, wireless mikes and awards handed to his YouTube channel. Singh is a final year BCA student at the WCTC College in Gurgaon. His YouTube channel has over 1.5 subscribers.

Confirming their arrest, joint commissioner of police Ravindra Yadav, said, “The Crime Branch has apprehended notorious prankster The Crazy Sumit and his associate, who uploaded the infamous kissing girls video on YouTube in Gurgaon.” Mr Yadav further added that the practice of uploading such videos was with the objective of getting more subscribers to earn more incentives. He also pointed out that an award from YouTube was recovered from Singh’s house, which congratulated him for having over 1 lakh followers.

“During investigation, details of his YouTube account ‘The Crazy Sumit’ were obtained. Apart from this, details of his other social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter were also obtained. A thorough profiling of the suspect was done by the cyber crime team across various social media websites. A video was also found uploaded by ‘The Crazy Sumit’ regarding a party thrown by YouTube to promote and encourage pranksters at 38 Barracks in Connaught Place,” said Mr Yadav.

It was found that YouTube has been organising various parties and day seminars to encourage pranksters. Such parties are being hosted by a company namely Menaki Communication based in Gurgaon and Mumbai on behalf of YouTube and Google, said the police on Friday.

Based on sustained technical surveillance, the police team received a tip-off that the accused, Sumit, is living in Gurgaon. Based on this information, the police team raided Sumit’s residence in Ashok Vihar Phase-3 and apprehended him.

During interrogation, Singh disclosed that he created his channel one-and-half-years ago. Three years ago, he met with an accident and was bedridden for two months. In this period, he used to watch prank videos on YouTube. After watching such videos, he got the idea of earning money by making his own prank videos. Till date, he has made 35-40 pranks videos.

Kadian has also started a prank channel on YouTube in the name of ‘DC Prank’ from September 2016 and has made three videos by himself.

Apart from this, the police will take down the statements of the girls to ascertain whether they were lured or not. “Meanwhile, a detailed inquiry will be conducted to ascertain the criminal liability of the event management company, YouTube and Google.”