YouTuber Elvish Yadav involved in illegal sale of snake venom, should be held: Maneka Gandhi
New Delhi, Nov 3: BJP MP Maneka Gandhi has accused "Bigg Boss" OTT winner Elvish Yadav of being involved in illegally selling snake venom and sought his immediate arrest.
The Noida Police has booked Yadav and arrested five people for the alleged use of snake venom at rave parties, officials said on Friday.
Yadav, a popular YouTuber and social media influencer, has refuted the charges and expressed his willingness to cooperate with police in the investigation.
Talking to reporters, Gandhi said Yadav is involved in the illegal sale of snake venom and sought his immediate arrest.
Demanding Yadav's immediate arrest, the former Union minister said her NGO, People For Animals (PFA), was keeping a watch on Yadav for a long time as he used snakes in his YouTube videos.
"Then we found out that they sell snake venom," she said.
Gandhi, whose NGO has filed a police complaint against Yadav, issued a statement and asked why is the YouTuber on the run if he is not guilty.
"This is a grade-1 crime, seven years in jail, a wildlife crime. King cobras die when their venom is taken out. Their venom is for digesting food. Without the venom, they cannot eat anything and thus, they die. There are a very few cobras and pythons in the country. It is a crime to own them, catch them or use them," she said.
An FIR has been lodged under the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and for criminal conspiracy following a complaint from Gaurav Gupta of the PFA against six people, including Yadav, for allegedly partying at a Noida banquet hall where snake venom was made available, police said.
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If Bumrah is not fit then a score of around 200 also might not be enough: Gavaskar
Sydney, Jan 4: Batting great Sunil Gavaskar feels India will struggle to defend even 200 in case premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah is unable to bowl at full throttle on the third day of the fifth and final Test against Australia here on Sunday.
Bumrah had left the field for scans during the second day's post-lunch session after bowling just one over, having experienced some discomfort. However, he returned to the dressing room after undergoing precautionary scans for an unspecified niggle.
India pacer Prasidh Krishna said his skipper had suffered back spasm.
The medical team was monitoring him as India ended the day 145 runs in front with four second innings wickets left on a SCG track which is aiding the bowlers.
"Look, if India scores 40 more runs or they put 185 on the board then they have a great chance but it all depends on Jasprit Bumrah's fitness. If Jasprit Bumrah is fit then 145-150 might be enough. But if Bumrah is not fit then a score of around 200 also might not be enough," said Gavaskar on Star Sports on Saturday.
Gavaskar also said maintaining secrecy around Bumrah's status is not going to help the Australians, who have so far struggled to counter the threat posed by the Indian pace spearhead.
"One thing that I liked was when he came back after the scan, obviously it took a lot of time because the hospital is a bit far, but he looked in good shape and his body language was such that there was no indication of the Australian team and it is very important to maintain the secrecy.
"Because, tactically you do not want to announce whether Bumrah will be available for bowling or not, and even if he is not available and this news goes across the opposition dressing room because till now Australian batsmen haven't found out a way to counter him, they don’t know whether they should attack, defend, or whether they should play on front-foot.
"So to execute this plan it is important to maintain secrecy, so Bumrah and the Indian team management managed it quite well," Gavaskar said.
The pacer has already taken 32 wickets in the series, and had figures of 2/33 in 10 overs before leaving the field, having removed Marnus Labuschagne in the morning session and Usman Khawaja on the last ball of the first evening.
