Elvish Yadav arrest: Why is snake venom used as a drug at raves?

Elvish Yadav, a 26-year-old YouTuber, was arrested by the Noida Police on Sunday and sent to judicial custody. He has reportedly confessed to his crime.

The Big Boss OTT winner now faces a case under the Wildlife Act in Noida. The arrest comes a month after samples collected from a rave party in Noida confirmed the use of venom of two snake species – the cobra and krait – as drugs.

What is the snake venom case? What has Elvish Yadav said? How is snake venom used as a drug? We explain.

What is the case against Elvish Yadav?

On 3 November 2023, the Noida Police booked Elvish Yadav and arrested five people for the alleged use of snake venom at rave parties.

Those arrested were identified as Rahul (32), Teetunath (45), Jaikaran (50), Narayan (50) and Ravinath (45), all residents of Moharband village in southeast Delhi’s Badarpur, PTI reported citing the police. Four of them are snake charmers. Nine snakes including cobras and poison were also recovered from them.

The development came a day after the police landed at a rave in Noida’s Sector 51 following a complaint by Gaurav Gupta of People for Animals (PFA), an animal welfare organisation founded by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Maneka Gandhi.

The non-profit also conducted a string operation in which they asked Yadav to organise a rave party and get Cobra venom.

An FIR was filed on Gupta’s complaint under provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and for criminal conspiracy. The complaint stated: “We received information that a YouTuber named Elvish Yadav shoots videos with snake venom and live snakes in farmhouses in Noida and NCR along with other gang members/YouTubers and organises rave parties illegally. On such occasions, foreign girls are regularly called and snake venom and intoxicants are consumed.”

“Acting on this information, one of our informers contacted Yadav and asked him to organise a rave party in Noida and make arrangements for snakes and cobra venom. When we talked to his agent with the reference of Elvish Yadav, he agreed. Then he agreed to come to the banquet hall in Sector 51. We informed DFO Noida… and further complained about it at the Sector 49 police station,” Indian Express cited the FIR as saying.

A medical report by the veterinary department had disclosed that the “venom glands of nine snakes and the fangs of eight snakes were missing”, reported Hindustan Times (HT).

How involved was Elvish Yadav?

Labelling Elvish Yadav a “kingpin”, Maneka Gandhi called for the YouTuber’s arrest last November.

“We have been keeping an eye on him for quite some time now, as he is seen holding snakes in films, photos, and videos that he posts. These snakes are endangered species of pythons and cobras,” she was quoted as saying by ThePrint then. “Some people are willing to do anything for fame. He should be immediately arrested.”

The BJP MP said all the seized snakes were endangered species. “These people catch them from the forest, they don’t breed them. There is a seven-year jail sentence, which they should all get,” she added.

However, Yadav had maintained his innocence and called the allegations against him “baseless” and “fake”. He wrote on X: “Naam ke sath badnaami bhi aati hai (With name comes infamy). People also grow jealous. I won’t be surprised if there are more cases against me.”

A video of Yadav holding a snake had surfaced amid the controversy last November, which the reality TV star had said was shot six months back.

On 8 November, Yadav was quizzed by cops for about two hours at Noida’s Sector 20 police station. Gautam Budh Nagar, additional commissioner of police, Sureshrao A Kulkarni, said that the YouTuber was also questioned regarding his footage where he can be seen playing with snakes, reported HT.

According to an NDTV report, Yadav had then told the cops that the snakes in the music video were arranged by Bollywood singer Fazilpuria. The singer told India Today that the clip was from a previous album shoot and had “nothing to do with any rave party”.

However, he has now confessed that he arranged snake venom at rave parties, police sources told NDTV.

How addictive is snake venom?

The incident has sparked a discussion about snake venom and its use as a recreational drug. A 2018 study, ‘Snake Venom Use as a Substitute for Opioids: A Case Report and Review of Literature’, found that in the cases of snake venom use reported in India, the reptiles were made to bite on the user’s feet or tongue.

“Derivatives from reptiles such as snakes, reptiles, and scorpions can also be used for recreational purposes and as a substitute for other substances,” authors Aseem Mehra, Debashish Basu and Sandeep Grover wrote in the study, as per The Independent.

Cobras and Indian kraits were the most commonly used snakes for such bites, the paper noted.

Snake venom has neurotoxins that cause analgesia, or the inability to feel pain, as per Indian Express. These neurotoxins can evoke several symptoms in users such as sleepiness, sense of grandiosity, sexual arousal, and a sense of well-being, reported Moneycontrol.

Studies have reportedly shown that users of snake venom also experience ecstasy, muscular weakness and sedation after the bite.

A paper, ‘A Curious Case of Snake Venom Addiction as an Alcohol De-Addiction Tool’, says that users “usually report a feeling of pricking, which lasts for a duration of 10-40 seconds, followed by a sense of euphoria, muscular weakness and sedation”.

“Initially, the bites are made in the index finger or little toe, followed by lip, tongue and ear lobes,” Independent cited the study as saying.

Some users also develop a higher tolerance for such drugs. However, experts warn that recreational use of snake venom can result not only in addiction but also death by poisoning.

With inputs from agencies