Noida Police deploys 5 teams to probe Youtuber’s involvement in snake venom case

Police said they were analysing the call detail records of Youtuber Elvish Yadav and the arrested suspects, as well as Yadav’s social media posts

​Two days after six people, including YouTuber Elvish Yadav, were booked under the Wildlife (Protection) Act and Section 120A (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly providing snake venom for a party in Noida’s Sector 51, the Noida police said on Saturday that it deployed five teams to investigate the case.

The arrested suspects in police custody on Friday. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

While five of those named in the first information report were arrested, Yadav was yet to be arrested, senior police officers said.

A senior officer associated with the case said on Saturday that of the five teams, three have been sent to different cities. “A team has been sent to Mumbai, while two others have gone to Delhi and Haryana to investigate Yadav’s involvement,” said the officer who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media. The officer added that they were analysing the call detail records of Yadav and the arrested suspects, as well as Yadav’s social media posts.

“We have seized the mobile phones of the arrested suspects and are checking their call records, and any contact with the Youtuber. A team is also scanning the social media posts and videos of Yadav. Neither he nor anyone from his team has contacted us so far,” the officer said.

Yadav’s car was searched by Rajasthan’s Kota (rural) police at a checkpost in Suket area, but he was not detained, said a police official aware of the matter.

A vial with 20ml liquid — believed to be snake venom — and nine snakes, including five cobras and a python — were recovered from the suspects on Thursday.

“The liquid recovered from the suspects has been sent to the Uttar Pradesh state forensic laboratory in Lucknow to determine whether it is snake venom,” said Rambadan Singh, the deputy commissioner of police, Noida.

“Five cobra snakes, one python snake, two two-headed snakes (sand snake), and one rat snake (horse-back snake) were recovered from the suspects, and these are protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. They are in the forest department’s custody as of now,” said PK Srivastava, the district forest officer of Noida.