Youtuber Elvish Yadav arrested by Noida Police
Noida (PTI): Youtuber Elvish Yadav was arrested on Sunday by Noida Police in connection with a probe into the suspected use of snake venom as a recreational drug at a party here, officials said.
Yadav was among six people named in an FIR lodged at Sector 49 police station here on November 3 last year. The five other accused were arrested but are currently out on bail, the officials said.
The case was lodged under provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and for criminal conspiracy under section 120B of the Indian Penal Code, they said.
The case was later shifted from Sector 49 to Sector 20 police station for investigation.
"The accused has been arrested by a team of Sector 20 police station which was investigating the case," Additional DCP (Noida) Manish Mishra told PTI.
Yadav, a winner of reality show Bigg Boss OTT, has refuted the charges of involvement in the case and has been questioned by the police in the past.
A sub-inspector, who was also the incharge of the local Sector 49 police station where the FIR was registered, was shunted.
The case was lodged on the complaint of an official of animal rights group People For Animals (PFA).
Five people were arrested from a banquet hall in Sector 51 on November 3 and nine snakes, including five cobras, rescued from their possession while 20 ml of suspected snake venom was also seized.
However, police said Yadav was not present at the party hall and they were probing his role in the whole case of snake venom use as a recreational drug.
PFA chairperson and BJP leader Maneka Gandhi has accused Yadav of involvement in illegally selling snake venom and sought his immediate arrest.
On November 4, Yadav was briefly stopped for questioning by police in Rajasthan's Kota while he was travelling with his friends in a car but was let off soon.
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ED searches: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah accuses Centre of targeting Cong leaders
Chamarajanagara (Karnataka) (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday accused the central government and its agencies of consistently targeting Congress members by using searches on their properties, and questioned why similar action is not taken against BJP leaders.
He was reacting to searches conducted by the Enforcement Directorate on Monday on several individuals, among them the sons of Karnataka Congress MLA N A Haris and the grandson of former Union Cabinet minister K Rahman Khan, in connection with a cryptocurrency-linked money laundering case.
"The central government always targets Congress leaders. Will they raid the houses of BJP leaders?" Siddaramaiah said in response to a question. More than a dozen premises in the city were searched as part of the operation carried out by the ED under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The premises searched comprised those of Mohammed Haris Nalapad and Omar Farook Nalapad, the sons of the MLA; Aqeeb Khan, the grandson of veteran Congress leader K Rahman Khan; and an alleged crypto hacker, Srikrishna Ramesh, alias Sriki, officials said.
The money laundering case stems from Karnataka Police FIRs and charge sheets filed in a 2017 case involving the hacking of national and international websites, theft of bitcoins, and the sale of these stolen virtual digital assets (VDAs) through crypto platforms by the alleged hacker Sriki and his associates.
Mohammed Haris Nalapad, Omar Farook Nalapad, and Aqeeb Khan are alleged to be beneficiaries of the proceeds of crime generated through this crypto-linked activity, officials added.
