ED files money laundering case against Bigg Boss OTT 2 winner Elvish Yadav, others in snake venom case

Elvish Yadav

A money laundering case has been filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against popular YouTuber and Bigg Boss OTT 2 winner Siddharth Yadav alias Elvish Yadav and some others under the charge of suspected use of snake venom as a recreational drug in parties he hosted, PTI reported citing official sources.

Charges have been pressed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the central agency. It filed the case on the basis of the FIR and charge sheet filed by the Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida) district police in Uttar Pradesh last month against him and others linked to him, the report added.

The ED will probe the alleged generation of proceeds of crime and use of illicit funds for organising rave or recreational parties. Yadav and the other accused linked to the case will be questioned as part of the investigation, the sources cited above said.

Yadav is renowned YouTuber whose rise to fame accelerated after he was declared the winner of Bigg Boss OTT 2 reality show, hosted by actor Salman Khan in 2023. He hails from Gurugram.

On March 17, Yadav was arrested by the Noida Police in connection with its probe into the snake venom case. He was booked under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, Wildlife Protection Act, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by the Noida police.

The popular YouTuber was among the six people named in an FIR lodged at Noida's Sector 49 Police Station on November 3 last year on a complaint from a representative of animal rights NGO People for Animals (PFA). The five other accused, who were all snake charmers, were arrested in November and later let out on bail by a local court.

The Noida Police, in April, filed an over 1,200-page charge sheet in the case. The charges included are snake trafficking, use of psychotropic substances and organising rave parties, the police had said. The charges included are snake trafficking, use of psychotropic substances and organising rave parties, the police had said.