'His crime deserves 7 years in jail’: BJP's Maneka Gandhi calls for Elvish Yadav’s arrest for using snake venom at rave parties

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and People For Animal (PFA) founder Maneka Gandhi has called for YouTuber and Big Boss OTT winner Elvish Yadav's immediate arrest after he was booked by the Noida Police on Friday for using snake venom at rave parties. The FIR was registered based on a complaint filed by Gaurav Gupta, an Animal Welfare Officer at the PFA organisation.

She has said that using endangered species of snakes and selling snake venom are grade-I crimes that carry a jail term of up to seven years.

The PFA alleged that Yadav used endangered species of snakes in his videos and sold snake venom in Noida and Gurugram. The organization also claimed that Yadav made the snake venom available at rave parties.

"He should be arrested immediately. This is a grade-I crime - that means seven years in jail...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....," Maneka Gandhi told ANI.

In a video, Elvish Yadav has responded to the allegations against him of hosting a rave party and making available snake venom. He has denied all of the allegations, calling them "fake" and "contrary to social media speculations."

Yadav has also said that he has not been arrested by the Noida police. He has been a victim of a "hitjob" before, so he is asking people to wait for the full probe to complete. He has also suggested that the allegations against him could be a conspiracy to frame him due to his rising fame.  "If even 0.1 per cent truth about my involvement in the case is found, I will take full responsibility of it," he said in an Instagram post.

The police, which are investigating the allegations against him, told India Today that nine snakes, including five cobras, and snake venom were found during the raids.

According to the FIR, the Bigg Boss OTT winner Elvish Yadav shared the number of his agent with the People for Animals (PFA). The agent, on being contacted, allegedly agreed to organise a rave party at a banquet hall in Noida and bring snakes there.

The PFA then shared this tip-off with the Forest Department officials and Noida Police, who then raided the banquet hall. All the five arrested are from Delhi.

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