Who is ‘controversy king’ Elvish Yadav, arrested in snake venom case?

Youtuber Elvish Yadav arrested for alleged involvement in snake venom scandal at party.

YouTuber Elvish Yadav was arrested on Sunday by the Noida Police in connection with an investigation into the suspected use of snake venom as a recreational drug at a party.

Police have arrested Elvish Yadav in snake venom case. (PTI)

Who is Elvish Yadav?

• Elvish Yadav, a YouTuber and singer from Gurugram, became a household name after winning the ‘Big Boss OTT 2’ reality show hosted by Salman Khan, in 2023.

• Yadav started his YouTube career in 2016 with a channel called ‘The Social Factory’, focusing on fiction and conceptual short films. He later rebranded the channel as Elvish Yadav. In 2019, he launched ‘Elvish Yadav vlogs’ for daily vlogs and movie critiques, and in 2023, he started ‘Elvish Yadav Gaming’ for gaming content.

• Besides being a social media influencer, Yadav owns two clothing brands - 'Systumm clothing' and ‘Elgro Women’ - and an NGO named ‘Elvish Yadav Foundation’ dedicated to providing education to underprivileged children and free meals to the needy.

Controversies related to Elvish Yadav

• Snake venom controversy: Elvish Yadav and five others were booked for allegedly providing snake venom for recreational purposes at a party in Delhi-NCR, based on a complaint filed by an animal welfare NGO run by former union minister Maneka Gandhi. The complaint said that Yadav and others were contacted to organise a rave party and procure Cobra venom, resulting in their arrest by Noida police.

Yadav had then dismissed the allegations as “absolutely baseless and fake.”

He has been arrested in the case now.

• Fight with 'Maxtern': Gurugram Police recently issued a notice to YouTuber Elvish Yadav, summoning him for investigation regarding a case involving Delhi-based content creator Sagar Thakur, known as Maxtern. Thakur alleged that he was assaulted by Yadav at a shopping mall in Gurugram’s Sector 53. A video purportedly capturing the assault went viral on social media platforms.

In a subsequent video shared on their social media platforms, Elvish Yadav and Thakur were seen together, claiming to have resolved their conflict and moved past the fight.

• Hug with Munawar Faruqui: Elvish Yadav had to issue a public apology recently following a viral photo showing him hugging comedian Munawar Faruqui at the Indian Street Premier League (ISPL) 2024 event. In a video titled "I AM SORRY," shared on his YouTube channel, Elvish expressed regret and clarified that he does not consider Munawar a friend.

This apology came after he faced backlash from right-wing groups for the affectionate gesture with Faruqui, who is alleged to have hurt religious sentiment.

Yadav said that his religion is the only thing that matters to him.

• Slapping in public: In February, Elvish Yadav found himself in another controversy when he was caught on video slapping a man at a restaurant in Jaipur. The video, which quickly went viral on social media, showed Elvish delivering the slap in front of onlookers before leaving the scene with his security team.