In a major event, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has identified and loaded the assets of popular YouTuber and winner of Bigg Boss OTT 2, Elvish Yadav, as part of an ongoing investigation into cherry blossoms. The IPF has seized Mr. Yadav’s assets in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana state’s and also froze some bank accounts in his name as part of the snake venom case, which was allegedly used as a countrapholic drug in rave parties thrown by Mr. Yadav.
The inquiry into Yadav’s activities commenced when the Noida police lodged an FIR alleging he had participated in the illegal supply of snake venom. It is alleged that he was selling the venom for parties he was holding. This led to the ED to start a larger inquiry under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The inquiry intensified when police arrested Yadav in March 2024, and charged him with snake trafficking, possession of drugs, and hosting illegal parties.
It has been reported that the confiscated properties are valued at a few crores. Besides Yadav, pop singer Rahul Yadav, who goes by the nickname Fazilpuria, is also named in the matter and has also been subjected to property seizure. Both have been questioned at length, specifically regarding their financial dealings, and their alleged role in, what is said to be, the snake venom racket.
Yadav was summoned to the Lucknow headquarters of ED in July. There, he was questioned over a few hours about his involvement in securing snake venom and how he was using it to do illicit work. He has always denied such allegations.
The chargesheet in the Yadav case is from April 2024 and runs over 1,200 pages with detailed charges of wildlife trafficking and money laundering. Already there has been much public attention because of Yadav’s popularity as a social media influencer, which may have been further compounded by allegations that the snake was used in his videos and parties.
A video shoot involving live snakes has been cited as a reason for the case against Elvish Yadav as the animal rights body, People for Animals (PFA), filed a complaint against him for making use of live snakes in a video shoot and distributing the venom of snakes to party-goers for recreation. Noida police had arrested five people allegedly associated with Yadav’s operation in November 2023, getting nine snakes, including five cobras, and 20 ml of snake venom from them. While Yadav was away from home when the raid took place, he was accused and detained in March 2024 after more investigations about the latter’s involvement in illegal wildlife trafficking and drugs.
All these were more on the financial front, basically dealing with money laundering. Yadav’s involvement in organising illegal rave parties through criminal proceeds turned out to be the talking point for the ED, which attached his properties and bank accounts. Yadav, having denied involvement several times, still remains under investigation to further unravel links into bigger criminal networks.
