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Akash Singhania said he was confronted and livestreamed by famous Russian YouTuber Vitaly Zdorovetskiy's team as part of a sting targeting alleged predators. Accused of contacting an 18-year-old, he denied wrongdoing, insisting he spoke to an adult and urged verification of messages. As tensions escalated and the team persisted, he called the police.
Russian YouTuber Vitaly Zdorovetskiy, who has 10 million subscribers and filmed the sting operation, apologised to the Indian-American man.
New Delhi,UPDATED: Apr 16, 2026 11:37 IST
An Indian-American man, Akash Singhania, living in California has spoken out after being falsely accused of being a child predator during a “sting operation” livestreamed by Russian YouTuber Vitaly Zdorovetskiy, who has 10 million subscribers.
The incident quickly gained traction on social media, significantly impacting Singhania’s life. In a detailed statement shared on X, he said Zdorovetskiy’s post turned his world “upside down,” leading to widespread harassment and long-lasting damage to his reputation.
"My world was turned upside down this weekend. As some of you may have seen, I was featured on a recent episode of Vitaly Zdorovetskiy's live series, where I was wrongfully portrayed as someone attempting to engage in inappropriate conduct. This accusation is completely false," he wrote.
ALL ABOUT THE INCIDENT
As per Singhania, Vitaly and his team confronted him in a residential area and livestreamed the interaction as part of a larger operation to expose alleged predators. The group accused him of trying to meet an 18-year-old woman after allegedly contacting her on Snapchat. However, Singhania consistently denied all the charges, saying he had been speaking to an adult and urged Vitaly to verify his messages.
Despite his efforts to clear the air, the confrontation continued on camera. With Vitaly and his team not backing down, Singhania called the authorities.
Officers from the Santa Ana Police Department rushed to the spot and conducted an on-the-spot probe. The police declared Singhania innocent after going through the evidence. The officers later reached out to Singhania's family and said that he was "wrong place at the wrong time."
VITALY'S APOLOGY
After facing backlash from netizens, Vitaly issued an apology saying, "We wrongly identified and accused Akash Singhania. We were completely wrong and made a terrible mistake," he said in a statement, adding, "Our team and I messed up, and we are deeply sorry to Akash. Whoever has those videos, delete it. The Snapchat messages got messed up, it was the wrong time, wrong place."
"He never intended to meet a minor and has been cleared of all wrongdoing I apologise to Mr. Singhania, his family, his friends, and anyone else affected by this mistake," he added. Following this, the original video was deleted.
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Published By:
Sayan Ganguly
Published On:
Apr 16, 2026 11:36 IST
