The Noida Police on Tuesday served YouTuber Elvish Yadav with a notice to appear before them in connection with the snake venom case, reported ANI. He is likely to be interrogated soon.

Yadav - who rose to fame after winning the ‘Big Boss OTT 2’ reality show hosted by Salman Khan - was booked along with five others for allegedly providing snake venom for recreational purposes at a party in Delhi-NCR based on a complaint filed by an animal welfare activist. The police have already arrested the other five people identified as Rahul, Titunath, Jayakaran, Narayan, and Ravinath in the case.

According to the complaint filed by BJP MP Maneka Gandhi's People For Animals, they held a ‘sting operation’ where they contacted Yadav and asked him to organise a rave party and get Cobra venom. “Elvish gave us the name of one Rahul whom we contacted. He said he could organise the venom wherever we wanted. He then came to Sector 51 Banquet Hall with the Venom. The Noida police then came to the venue along with the DFO and arrested the organisers,” the complaint said.

Meanwhile, Yadav has been refuting the allegations saying they are “baseless and fake”.

While the YouTuber has agreed to cooperate with the probe, he also threatened to file a defamation case against the BJP MP. “I was accused by Maneka Gandhi ji and she called me the head of the snake supplier. I will file a defamation case against her. I will not spare her. Now, I am active in all these things. Earlier, I used to think that I didn’t want to waste my time but now my image is being affected,” he said in a blog post.

He added, “Those who are watching please don’t judge me on this basis of this. Please wait. When the police investigation starts, I will share the main video as well. I will show you everything. I am saying this with a lot of confidence. A press statement will also be released that Elvish Yadav had zero involvement in this case. Please watch that and share that also.”

Source: Hindustan Times