Indian-origin biomedical engineer Sadhana Gollapudi, based in Houston, Texas, was falsely accused of visa fraud. (Photo: Instagram/sadhana.g)A Houston-based biomedical engineer of Indian origin found herself at the centre of a viral misinformation campaign after social media users falsely accused her of visa fraud. US officials and advocacy groups later confirmed she is a naturalised US citizen and said the allegations were baseless.
Who is Sadhana Gollapudi?
According to her public Instagram profile, Sadhana Gollapudi works as a biomedical engineer and also performs as a Kuchipudi dancer. She lists Houston, Texas, as her home base and shares videos of her dance performances on her own YouTube channel.
The controversy began when an X account named Cyber Green falsely claimed that Gollapudi had lived in the US on an F-1 student visa since 2014, and accused her of breaking visa rules by working while enrolled in multiple academic programmes.
The post referred to her dance videos filmed outside her home and framed them as evidence of wrongdoing. It spread quickly, with thousands of users reposting the claim without verifying it.
How the claim was corrected
The Indian American Impact Action Fund pushed back soon after, posting on X that Gollapudi had been wrongly identified and was, in fact, a US citizen. The group wrote that a woman had been “filmed, named and falsely branded a ‘visa fraudster’ before millions.” It added that naturalised citizens deserve the same respect as anyone else, and that spreading reckless claims about someone’s identity should carry consequences.
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US Attorney Aaron Reitz said his office reviewed the claims and concluded that Gollapudi is a naturalised US citizen, not an F-1 visa holder. He wrote that Gollapudi is a “naturalized US citizen, not here on a student visa.” Reitz said his office prosecutes visa fraud aggressively when it is real, but made clear the claims against Gollapudi did not hold up.
Thanks for flagging. My office looked. She’s a naturalized US citizen, not here on student visa.
As US Atty over Houston, I take visa fraud seriously. We prosecute it to the fullest. Neither illegal aliens nor those who obtain legal status illegally are welcome on American soil.
— U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz (@USAttyReitz) August 4, 2026
Questions raised over public disclosure
Even after the correction, criticism grew over how the situation was managed. A user said Reitz’s public confirmation of Gollapudi’s citizenship status amounted to an unnecessary disclosure, and said he had filed a formal complaint with the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility. He argued that federal authority funded by taxpayers should protect innocent citizens rather than validate online pile-ons.
An American woman was falsely branded a “visa fraudster” before 2.8 million people.
U.S. Attorney @USAttyReitz invoked the authority of his office, confirmed she is a naturalized citizen, needlessly disclosed her citizenship status and then thanked the false accuser.
I have…
— Sidharth (@Cloudwatch199) August 5, 2026
Several other users said on X that they were filing similar complaints, with some raising concerns that the episode reflected broader bias against Indian-Americans online. Advocacy voices, including attorney and activist Suhag Shukla, questioned why the original accusatory post was acted on so readily.
The episode unfolded amid heightened scrutiny of visa fraud and immigration enforcement in the United States under President Donald Trump’s administration, where allegations of immigration violations often spread rapidly on social media.
What Gollapudi has said
Gollapudi later addressed the situation herself in a public post, saying the past few days had been difficult for her and her family. She said her content had been reposted without permission on X by an account spreading misleading claims about her, and asked her followers to report similar posts if they came across them. She thanked supporters for standing by her during the ordeal.
The episode has renewed concerns about how quickly unverified claims can spread online, particularly around immigration status, and how difficult it can be to undo the damage even after the facts are confirmed.
