The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a petition filed by social media influencer and YouTuber Elvish Yadav seeking to quash the charge sheet filed by the Uttar Pradesh Police over the alleged use of snake venom at a rave party.

A single bench of Justice Saurabh Srivastava rejected the plea of the YouTuber on Monday. The court refused to hear any objection from Yadav and dismissed the plea to reject the police charge sheet.

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In this case, an FIR was registered against several people including the YouTuber in Sector 49, Noida on November 3, 2023 under several sections of Wildlife Protection Act, IPC and NDPS Act.

People For Animals (PFA) organization’s animal welfare officer Gaurav Gupta lodged an FIR against all. All were accused of drugs, use of snake venom and making videos with live snakes in the rave party.

Elvish had challenged the charge sheet, saying that the authority that filed the FIR under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, was not competent to do so. It has been argued that no snake or intoxicating substance has been recovered from the applicant (Elvish). At the same time, no relations have been established between Elvish and other co-accused. It has also been said by Elvish that the person giving information is no longer an animal welfare officer, but he has filed an FIR, describing himself as an animal welfare officer.

Elvish’s counsel also argued in court that the applicant is an influential public figure who appears in several television reality shows. As a result, the media gave the case considerable attention after Elvish’s name appeared in the FIR. Due to media reports, police officers tried to make the matter more sensitive by implementing Section 27 and 27A NDPS Act soon after arresting the applicant.