Elvish’s video with krait a crucial evidence: Police

The forensic evidence received from the Jaipur’s state forensic science laboratory (FSL) in February has turned out to be the most crucial piece of evidence in arresting YouTuber Elvish Yadav, four-and-a-half-months after he was booked by the Noida police in a case related to the supply of snake venom to a party in Noida’s Sector 51, senior police officers revealed on Monday.
On November 3 last year, Yadav and five others were booked under the Wildlife (Protection) Act and Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code at Sector 49 police station for allegedly supplying snake venom to party revellers , 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 suspected snake venom were recovered from the possession of the five suspects at the time of the arrests.
“In the forensic report received from Jaipur in February, the substance in the 20ml tune was confirmed as snake venom and on the basis of this report, we gathered concrete evidence linking Yadav to the supply of snake venom for recreational use, and arrested him,” said additional deputy commissioner of police Manish Kumar Mishra, adding that investigators have started recording the statements of more people in the case to gather more evidence against the accused.
Investigators said they have also found Yadav’s involvement in supplying snake venom for recreational purposes for six high-profile parties held in different places in Delhi-NCR over the course of 2023. He will be questioned about these parties as well as the investigation proceeds, said officials on Monday.
As per the forensic report, the venom recovered from the party was of a krait, an extremely venomous and rare species of snake, said police.
“Krait is an extremely venomous, some consider them to be more venomous than even cobras. They are protected under Schedule 1 of Wildlife Protection Act. The lab reports confirmed that snake venom was being used at the party for intoxication purposes,” said complainant Saurabh Gupta, a member of NGO People For Animals (PFA).
He added that this is the same snake with which Yadav was seen posing in one of his videos on social media and these clips have been submitted as evidence by the complainants.
“The video of Yadav of posing with a krait is a crucial piece of evidence linking him to the case as the venom we recovered from the party also turned out to be that of a krait,” said Gupta, a resident of Ghaziabad.
Gupta, along with his brother Gaurav Gupta, who is also an animal rights activist, began looking into Yadav in July 2023, after videos of him posing with endangered species of snakes started surfacing on social media.
After the FSL report, investigators added charges under unbailable offences of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and sections 284 (negligent conduct with respect to poisonous substances) and 289 (negligent conduct with respect to animals) of the Indian Penal Code to the existing FIR.
“Because of the unbailable charge, police were able to get Yadav on 14 days’ judicial custody,” added additional DCP Mishra.
A senior officer, who is part of the investigation but asked not to be named, said charges under NDPS Act have also been imposed on the remaining five suspects in the case. They five — Rahul (32), Teetunath (45), Jaikaran (50), Narayan (50) and Ravinath (45), all residents of Moharband village in south-east Delhi’s Badarpur — are currently out on bail, said police.
“Under the NDPS Act, police can rearrest the remaining suspects after filing the charge-sheet. We are preparing to file the charge-sheet in the case as soon as possible and apply for Yadav’s police custody remand as well,” said the officer.
Investigators added that Yadav was also unable to give satisfactory answers to their queries on Sunday afternoon, which led to his arrest.
“During the interrogation on Sunday, Yadav continued to deny his involvement in providing snake venom for recreational use. However, when he was presented with the evidence, he was unable to give satisfactory answers. Following this, we arrested him,” said Praveen Kumar Singh, assistant commissioner of police-1, Noida.
The unnamed senior officer quoted above further revealed that there are several more people on the police radar in the case.
“Apart from Yadav, there are more people on our radar and more arrests are likely in the future as investigations proceed. This is just the ‘tip of the iceberg,” said the officer.
Police said Yadav is in a quarantine cell at the district jail in Luksar.
“Keeping in mind that Yadav is a celebrity, he has been kept in a quarantine cell, away from the other prisoners. His family came from Gurugram and met him on Monday at the jail,” said Arun Pratap Singh, superintendent of Luksar jail.