Noida: The Noida Police on Sunday arrested YouTuber Elvish Yadav in connection with the supply of snake venom at a party in Noida, allegedly for recreational use, last year, said an officer.
Police said that he was brought in for questioning following his arrest after evidence was found against him.
“Elvish Yadav was called for questioning after his arrest on Sunday. We have found evidence against him,” Noida additional deputy commissioner of police Manish Kumar Mishra said.
Police had on November 8 last year questioned Yadav for around two hours in connection with the case at the Sector 20 police station.
On November 3 last year, six people, including Yadav, were booked under the Wildlife (Protection) Act and Section 120A (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly providing snake venom at a party in Noida’s Sector 51 bases on a complaint filed by a welfare activist associated with NGO People For Animals (PFA) at Sector 49 police station.
The five arrested were identified as Rahul Chauhan (32), Teetunath (45) and Narayan (50), both sons of Harinath, and Ravinath (45) son of Chandinath, all residents of Moharband village in south-east Delhi’s Badarpur.
Police said 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 small 20ml tube of suspected snake venom were recovered from the arrested accused.
Apart from the police investigation, a medical report from the veterinary department revealed that the venom glands of all nine snakes were missing and so were the fangs of eight snakes.
“Medical examination of the snakes revealed that the venom glands of nine snakes and the fangs of eight snakes were missing. We have submitted the report for further legal proceedings, and the snakes were returned to the forest department,” said Doctor Nikhil Varshney of the veterinary department.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Pramod Kumar Shrivastava said that after getting an order from the court, the snakes were released in the Surajpur wetland.
Forensic investigation revealed the use of the venom of cobra and krait species of snakes in samples seized from the party.
“After receiving the FSL reports, Yadav was called for questioning on Sunday,” an officer said.
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