Snake venom case: SC quashes criminal proceedings against Elvish Yadav

The Supreme Court quashed criminal proceedings against YouTuber Elvish Yadav in the snake venom case, citing procedural lapses. The bench noted that the complaint and FIR could not be sustained in law, leading to the proceedings being quashed.

The Supreme Court has quashed the criminal proceedings against YouTuber and Big Boss OTT winner Elvish Yadav in connection with a case registered against him linked to the smuggling and consumption of snake venom. A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N. Kotiswar Singh found procedural lapses in the manner in which the complaint and FIR were filed and noted that the same cannot be sustained in law.

"The complaint and the FIR cannot be sustained in law. We are not going into other issues raised. The Proceedings stands quashed," the Court noted.

Road to the Supreme Court

Earlier, Yadav approached the Supreme Court seeking the quashing of the chargesheet filed against him and the summons issued in the case.

In May last year, the Allahabad High Court had dismissed his plea, observing that the allegations warranted a thorough legal examination as multiple FIRs had been registered in the matter.

Charges and Defence Arguments

Chargesheet Details

For reference, Elvish Yadav was chargesheeted under Sections 9, 39, 48A, 49, 50 and 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act and Sections 284, 289 and 120B of the IPC and Sections 8, 22, 29, 30 and 32 of the NDPS Act in the FIR lodged at Police Station Sector-49, Noida, District Gautam Buddh Nagar.

A summons order was also issued by the First Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gautam Buddh Nagar.

Yadav's Plea

Yadav challenged the chargesheet and the proceedings on the ground that the informant was not a competent person to lodge an FIR under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

It was pleaded that no snake, narcotic or psychotropic substance has been recovered from the applicant.

Further, it was pleaded that, "It is a well-known fact that the applicant is an influential person and appears on several reality shows on television, and inevitably, the involvement of the applicant in the instant FIR attracted great attention from the media. Consequently, influenced by the aforesaid attention, the police officers attempted to make the case more sensitive by invoking Sections 27 and 27A of the NDPS Act immediately after arresting the applicant." (ANI)

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