What is Noida snake venom case in which Elvish Yadav is reportedly arrested?

YouTuber and Big Boss OTT season 2 winner Elvish Yadav was arrested by the Noida police on Sunday in connection with the snake venom case.

YouTuber and Big Boss OTT season 2 winner Elvish Yadav was arrested by the Noida police on Sunday in connection with the snake venom case. He will be produced before the court today, reported news agency ANI citing DCP Noida Vidya Sagar Mishra. This comes a month after the forensic reports of samples taken from the alleged rave party in Noida last year confirmed that they were snake venom of Cobra and Krait snake species.

YouTuber Elvish Yadav

What is the Noida snake venom case?

1. Last year, a complaint was filed by an NGO run by Maneka Gandhi ‘People For Animals’ against Elvish Yadav and five others for allegedly providing snake venom at a party in Noida. According to the complaint, the NGO conducted a “sting operation” wherein they contacted Yadav and asked him to organise a rave party and get Cobra venom.
2. The complaint said, “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.”
3. On November 2 last year, the Noida Police had booked six people, including YouTuber Elvish Yadav, under the Wildlife (Protection) Act and Section 120A (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly providing snake venom for recreational use at a rave party in Noida's Sector 51. Five of those accused have been arrested - Rahul, Titunath, Jayakaran, Narayan, and Ravinath, and the police recovered snakes from their possession. While the police had been investigating Yadav, they claimed earlier that he was not present at the party.
4. After Yadav was booked in the snake venom case, the 26-year-old YouTuber took to social media to refute the charges against him, calling them “baseless, fake, and not even 1 percent true”. In the short video, he also assured full cooperation with the Uttar Pradesh police in the matter.
5. During the investigation, the Noida police found a video of Elvish Yadav with two snakes. According to Yadav during questioning, the reptiles were arranged by Bollywood singer Fazilpuria. However, the singer told media outlets that he had no links with the rave parties and that the snakes belonged to a production house.