Who is Elvish Yadav, Bigg Boss winner booked for snake venom use?
The Noida Police on Thursday booked six people including YouTuber Elvish Yadav for the alleged use of snake venom at rave parties.
The FIR was filed under the charges of Wildlife (Protection) Act and criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). While five of those named in the FIR have been arrested, Yadav has denied the charges and also assured full cooperation with the UP police in the matter.
Who is Elvish Yadav and what are the charges against him?
Elvish Yadav is an Indian YouTuber, and a singer from Gurugram. He rose to fame after winning the ‘Big Boss OTT 2’ reality show hosted by Salman Khan this year.
Elvish began his YouTube career in 2016 by starting a channel ‘The Social Factory’ – whose content primarily revolved around flash fiction and conceptual short films. He later rebranded it to Elvish Yadav. In 2019, he started another YouTube channel ‘Elvish Yadav vlogs’ where he made daily vlogs and criticised movies with his friends and family. Later in 2023, he started another gaming YouTube channel called ‘Elvish Yadav Gaming’.
Apart from being a social media influencer, Yadav also owns two clothing brands – ‘Systumm clothing’ and ‘Elgro Women’, and an NGO called ‘Elvish Yadav Foundation’ which helps in providing education to underprivileged children, and free meals to the needy.
On Thursday, Yadav, along with five others – identified as Rahul, Titunath, Jayakaran, Narayan, and Ravinath – were booked for providing snake venom for recreational purposes at a party in Delhi-NCR based on a complaint filed by an animal welfare activist.
According to the complaint filed by People For Animals, the NGO run by Maneka Gandhi contacted Elvish Yadav and asked him to organise a rave party and get Cobra venom. “Elvish gave us the name of one Rahul whom we contacted. He said he could organise the venom wherever we wanted. He then came to Sector 51 Banquet Hall with the Venom. The Noida police then came to the venue along with the DFO and arrested the organisers,” the complaint said.
Reacting to the FIR, Elvish Yadav said the allegations are “absolutely baseless and fake”. Issuing a statement, he said, “I will take the responsibility if even 1% of my involvement in this is proved. Media should also stay away from defaming me unless my involvement is probed.”