Youtuber Elvish Yadav being produced in a court docket in Gurugram. File image
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Supreme Court on Thursday (March 19, 2026) quashed felony proceedings launched by Uttar Pradesh towards YouTuber Elvish Yadav in a narcotics and wildlife safety regulation case involving snake venom as unsustainable in law.
A Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and N. Kotiswar Singh discovered that the alleged “psychotropic substance” recovered from a co-accused within the case was not listed within the Schedule of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The court docket additional discovered that the criticism filed within the case below the Wildlife Protection Act was not by an authorised officer. Section 55 of the Act mandates {that a} court docket needn’t take cognisance of a criticism alleging an offence except it was filed by authorised officers who embrace the director of wildlife preservation; member-secretary of the central zoo authority; member-secretary of tiger conservation authority; director of a tiger reserve; a Wild Life Crime Control Bureau officer, Chief Wildlife Warden.
The court docket was knowledgeable by senior advocate Mukta Gupta, showing for Mr. Yadav, that the criticism was filed by a person related to a non-public animal safety organisation.
It stated that offences below the Indian Penal Code (IPC) invoked within the FIR towards Mr. Yadav have been primarily based on an earlier FIR registered in Gurugram, wherein a closure report had been filed.
The court docket, nonetheless, clarified that it was not giving Mr. Yadav a “clean chit”. The authority involved was at liberty to proceed towards him by following the right process below the wildlife statute.
Justice Sundresh stated “if there is any procedural violation, it cannot be assumed the appellant has been given a clean chit”.
Ms. Gupta stated her shopper would even be free to hunt authorized treatment within the eventuality of a contemporary criticism being filed.
The case towards Mr. Yadav was registered on November 22, 2023, and he was arrested on March 17, 2024, for the alleged use of snake venom at a rave celebration in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
The controversial YouTuber had moved the apex court docket towards an Allahabad High Court order refusing him aid by quashing the chargesheet within the case. The chargesheet alleged the consumption of snake venom as a leisure drug at “rave” events by folks, together with foreigners.
On August 6 final yr, the apex court docket stayed proceedings within the trial court docket towards Mr. Yadav within the case.
Published – March 19, 2026 02:29 pm IST
