Indian YouTuber Crazy Sumit held for 'prank' kissing video
- Published
Sumit Verma has apologised for his "kissing prank" video
Indian YouTuber Sumit Verma has been detained after posting a video in which he walked up to women in public places, kissed them and ran away.
Delhi police spokesman Deependra Pathak told the BBC Mr Verma was being questioned by the cyber police.
He said Mr Verma had claimed that the women in his video were actors.
Mr Verma apologised and deleted his "prank video" after a severe public backlash. A case was registered against him last week.
The video was posted at the same time as multiple reports of groping in the southern city of Bangalore on New Year's Eve were causing anger in India.
The YouTuber, who has more than 150,000 subscribers to his "Crazy Sumit" channel, said at the time that he had made the video "for entertainment and had no intention of hurting anybody".
Mr Varma has now told police that the women in the clip were paid actors, as he gave them a share of the money he made from posting the video to YouTube, Mr Pathak said.
In the video, Mr Verma randomly walks up to women in public places, kisses them and runs away
"We will have to question the women in the video to see if what he is saying is true," he added.
No women have come forward to register a complaint against Mr Varma despite a police appeal. However police decided to register a case after watching the video.
News of Mr Varma's detention has caused some comment on Twitter, with many welcoming the news.
India has many popular YouTube channels and stars who make entertainment videos.
One such channel, TroubleSeekerTeam, severely criticised Mr Verma in a video, saying "harassing women or anybody can never be taken as entertainment".
"It's simply molestation," the channel said.