The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned popular YouTuber and Bigg Boss OTT 2 winner Elvish Yadav to appear before its Lucknow-based unit in Uttar Pradesh on July 23 in connection with a money laundering case linked to a rave party incident.
Earlier in May, the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on the FIR and charge sheet filed by the Noida police against Elvish Yadav and others involved in a snake venom case.
In November last year, the People for Animals (PFA) organisation filed an FIR against six people including Elvish.
The FIR was registered against the six people in Noida Sector 49 police station for allegedly supplying snake venom for unauthorised uses in Noida.
The case was transferred from Noida’s Sector 49 police station to Sector 20 police station on the orders of Gautam Buddha Nagar Police Commissioner Lakshmi Singh.
Yadav was arrested on March 17 by the police along with five others and all were charged under the Wildlife (Protection) Act and Section 120A (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
Yadav was granted bail by Gautam Buddha Nagar District Court five days after his arrest.
Later, police arrested two more suspects in the case who were identified as Ishwar and Vinay, both residents of Haryana and said to be known to Yadav.
On April 6, the Noida police filed a chargesheet against the YouTuber and seven others in connection with allegations ranging from snake smuggling to organising rave parties.
The 1,200-page chargesheet stated that Elvish was in touch with snake charmers and that a poisonous snake and 20 millilitres of venom from the Krait species were also recovered from the location.
