Noida rave party: Reports of snake venom trade in Odisha, says Maneka Gandhi; Elvish Yadav breaks silence

BJP MP and founder of People for Animals (PFA) Maneka Gandhi on Friday demanded the arrest of social media influencer and Bigg Boss OTT winner Elvish Yadav soon after he was named in an FIR for organising rave parties with snakes and snake venom.

Maneka Gandhi's NGO has filed a complaint against the YouTuber, Elvish Yadav. “This is a grade-I crime and there is a provision of seven years jail term. PFA laid a trap and caught these people. He uses endangered species of snakes in his videos. Later, we got to know that he sells snake venom in Noida and Gurugram,” said Gandhi.

According to Gandhi, the NGO volunteers were observing since the last few days on Elivsh posting some videos with snakes. Later, we conducted a raid in Mathura and eight persons were arrested with snakes. The accused revealed the name of Elivsh. Subsequently, a trap of rave party was set and police arrested some people from the spot, she said.

Gandhi informed that there are several volunteers across the country and assist in arresting people involved in such incidents involving animals.

“Law should be stringent and we are waiting for strengthening of the Act along with proper training of police personnel. We need to get help from police and forest department officials. Use of snake venom is not new in rave parties. However, it is very dangerous for health. There is a big racket behind it as snakes are being caught from forests. Several companies have been set up in West Bengal claiming that they are into taking snake venom for medicines which is completely baseless,” said Gandhi.

The forest department officials have powers but they do not do anything, alleged Gandhi.

“In Odisha, there are several snake charmers and the forest department is not doing anything for the snakes or elephants,” Gandhi added.

Reacting to the allegations levelled against him, Elvish said, “I got the news about me in media today. All the allegations levelled against me are baseless. I am ready to cooperate Uttar Pradesh Police and urge CM Yogi Adityanath for an impartial probe. I urge all not to defame me unless the allegations are proven. I will take the responsibility if even 1% of my involvement in this is proven.”