A Japanese YouTuber and two men were referred to prosecutors on Monday for allegedly placing a mattress on the sidewalk in front of the busy Shibuya scramble crossing in central Tokyo as part of a prank video, investigative sources said.

Masahiro Harada, a 29-year-old YouTuber known as "Hezumaryu," and the two accomplices who appeared in the video are suspected of obstructing pedestrians on the sidewalk near the famous intersection on July 2 by laying out the Japanese-style futon mattress before one of them lay on it, according to the sources.

Harada, who has traveled across Japan to create YouTube videos, was quoted by the sources as saying to investigators that he had thought their action would not be considered a crime so long as they did not use a bed.

In 2019, Tokyo police referred a different group of pranksters to prosecutors over a stunt in which they placed a bed with a YouTuber inside in the middle of the Shibuya scramble crossing while pedestrians were traversing it.

Source: ANNnewsCH