Elvish Yadav. File photo from his Instagram account.
Elvish Yadav says 'allegations fake' after case filed over rave party with snake venom
"Five people were arrested from the banquet hall and nine snakes were rescued from their possession," a police spokesperson said.
The Noida Police have arrested five people for the alleged use of snake venom at a rave party besides booking Bigg Boss winner Elvish Yadav in the case, officials said on Friday (November 3).
Nine snakes were also rescued from the possession of the arrestees, who had landed at a banquet hall in Sector 51 on Thursday for the party, which was a trap laid by an animal rights group, People for Animals (PFA), the officials said.
The FIR was lodged under the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and for criminal conspiracy following a complaint by PFA against six people, including Yadav, for partying at a banquet hall in Sector 51 where snake venom was made available, police said.
"Five people were arrested from the banquet hall and nine snakes were rescued from their possession," a police spokesperson said.
Those held have been identified as Rahul (32), Teetunath (45), Jaikaran (50), Narayan (50) and Ravinath (45), all residents of Moharband village in southeast Delhi's Badarpur, police said.
Maneka Gandhi demands Yadav's arrest
BJP MP and PFA founder Maneka Gandhi demanded Yadav's immediate arrest. "He should be arrested immediately. This is a grade-I crime - that means seven years in jail...PFA laid a trap and caught these people. He uses endangered species of snakes in his videos. Later we got to know that he sells snake venom in Noida and Gurugram....," she told reporters.
In the FIR, complainant Gaurav Gupta of PFA, run by BJP parliamentarian Maneka Gandhi, claimed that his group had come to know that Yadav, a Youtuber, used to make videos with live snakes and snake venom in Noida and other parts of NCR with his associates and illegally organised rave parties.
Yadav, also a winner of the reality show Bigg Boss, denied all the allegations against him, in a post on his Instagram account.
"All allegations against me are fake, there is not even 1 per cent of truth in it. I am ready to cooperate with UP Police. I request the UP administration, police, and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath that even if there is 0.1 per cent of my involvement in this, I am ready to take responsibility," he said in a video.
He also requested the media not to tarnish his image by writing against him without any proof.
