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Elvish Yadav snake venom case: Noida Police arrests two more suspects
Elvish Yadav is accused of allegedly supplying snake venom to party revellers in Noida for recreational use.
Days after the arrest of YouTuber and Bigg Boss OTT 2 winner Elvish Yadav in the case related to the suspected use of snake venom as a recreational drug, the Noida Police on Wednesday said it has arrested two more persons.
Those arrested have been identified as Ishwar and Vinay, residents of Haryana, reported ANI.
The Noida Police has also intensified the investigation after the arrest of Elvish Yadav.
On November 3 last year, Elvish Yadav and five others were booked under the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA) and Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code at Sector 49 police station for allegedly supplying snake venom to party revellers in Noida, allegedly for recreational use.
Nine snakes — five cobras, one python, two sand snakes and one rat snake — protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and a 20ml tube of snake venom were recovered from the possession of the five suspects at the time of the arrests.
Also Read | Elvish Yadav’s video with krait a crucial evidence: Police
On Sunday, Elvish Yadav, a resident of Wazirabad village in Gurugram, was arrested by the Noida police in connection with the case and was later sent to 14-day judicial custody.
The police also added charges under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act to the existing FIR following a forensic report that 20ml liquid, recovered from the five arrested suspects, was venom from a krait.
Elvish Yadav's legal team claims arrest ‘illegal’
Elvish Yadav's legal team, however, has claimed that the YouTuber was called to join the investigation as a witness but was later "illegally detained” and then arrested.
“Since the case was registered in November, Yadav has come for questioning five times, after being summoned under Section 160 of CrPC. On Sunday, too, Yadav was called for questioning but was illegally detained by the police and wrongfully shown as arrested. Yadav was not even informed as to why or for what offence he was being arrested, which in itself is illegal,” Elvish Yadav’s lawyer Prashant Rathi said.
Also Read | Elvish Yadav admits to arranging snake venom in rave parties: Report
Rathi further said that the offence in question under which the FIR was registered pertains to WPA, and no such contraband (snake venom) was recovered from Yadav.
“Yadav was not even present at the said party, and no contraband under WPA was recovered from him, which is common knowledge. Moreover, as per Section 55 of the WPA, only a government officer is authorised to take cognizance of an offence under this Act and file a complaint. Whereas, in this case, a member of an NGO has filed a complaint, which is a violation of WPA,” said Rathi.
