Snake venom at rave party’: Bigg Boss winner Elvish Yadav booked, 5 arrested by Noida Police

The accused — Rahul, Teetunath, Jaikaran, Narayan, and Ravinath —_are residents of Molarband village in Delhi’s Badarpur. Police said 20 ml of snake venom, five cobras, a python, 2 two-headed snakes, and a rat snake were recovered from the accused.

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Elvish, meanwhile, claimed he was innocent. In a 58-second video on X, he said, “… All allegations made against me are completely baseless… (and) fake… I am ready to cooperate with UP Police… I request police, administration, and UP CM Yogi Adityanath that if they find even 0.1% of my involvement in this, I’m ready to accept all charges…”

Police said they were verifying details regarding allegations made against Yadav. “If found true, we will form a team to arrest Elvish Yadav or issue summons asking him to surrender. We have so far not found any criminal history of the accused from whose possession snakes were recovered,” said DCP Ram Badan Singh.

On her part, Gandhi said her organisation has had an eye on Yadav for a long time. “He was using snakes frequently in his photos and videos. These pythons and cobras are endangered species. You must understand that cobras, when they lose their venom, die… if somebody uses these snakes, there is a punishment of seven years,” she told reporters.

“To nab them, we set up a trap, called them, and told them we were partying. He (Yadav) used to supply in Gurgaon and Noida,” she said.

Police acted on a complaint filed by the animal welfare officer of the PFA.

The FIR, filed on the complaint of Gaurav Gupta, the animal welfare officer, stated: “We received information that a YouTuber named Elvish Yadav shoots videos with snake venom and live snakes in farmhouses in Noida and NCR along with other gang members/YouTubers and organises rave parties illegally. On such occasions, foreign girls are regularly called and snake venom and intoxicants are consumed.”

It added, “Acting on this information, one of our informers contacted Yadav and asked him to organise a rave party in Noida and make arrangements for snakes and cobra venom. When we talked to his agent with the reference of Elvish Yadav, he agreed. Then he agreed to come to the banquet hall in Sector 51. We informed DFO Noida… and further complained about it at the Sector 49 police station.”

An FIR on criminal conspiracy and under sections of The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 has been registered, said police.

Meanwhile, around 20 family members of the accused protested their arrest outside the police station and denied their involvement in the case.

“We don’t keep snakes at home. I challenge the police to come and see if they can find any. It is all being done at the behest of the NGO. They had called us to perform in a birthday function and play snake flutes (pungi)… and said that they need seven people,” claimed Mahender Singh (65), brother of Jaikaran and uncle of Rahul.

“They had made a booking for Rs 21,000 and paid Rs 1,000 advance… the men police arrested are professional artists, two play the snake flute, one a dholak and the other a tumba. I demand a fair enquiry…, he added.