Munawar Faruqui reacts to Elvish Yadav arrest: My phone is switched off

Munawar Faruqui

Elvish Yadav was taken under custody by the Noida police on Sunday in a snake venom case they have been investigating since last year. Munawar Faruqui who is known to be close to Elvish Yadav and has been spotted with him at public events recently reacted to the news of the arrest.

Speaking with Times Now, Munawar said that he was not aware of details of the arrest. Munawar said, "Mujhe kuch bhi idea nahi iss baare mein. Mera phone toh band tha. Mere phone ki battery puri dead ho chuki hai. I don't know kaise hua yeh sab (I don't have any idea about this. My phone is switched off. My phone's battery is completely dead. I don't know how all these happened)."

As per the report, Munawar and Elvish Yadav were recently spotted playing cricket at ISPL's friendly match. They had also hugged each other.

Youtuber Elvish Yadav was arrested on Sunday by Noida Police in connection with a probe into the suspected use of snake venom as a recreational drug at a party here, officials said. Yadav was among six people named in an FIR lodged at Sector 49 police station here on November 3 last year. The five other accused were arrested but are currently out on bail, the officials said.

The case was lodged under provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and for criminal conspiracy under section 120B of the Indian Penal Code, they said. The case was later shifted from Sector 49 to Sector 20 police station for investigation.

"The accused has been arrested by a team of Sector 20 police station which was investigating the case," Additional DCP (Noida) Manish Mishra told PTI. Yadav, a winner of reality show Bigg Boss OTT, has refuted the charges of involvement in the case and has been questioned by the police in the past.

A sub-inspector, who was also the in-charge of the local Sector 49 police station where the FIR was registered, was shunted. The case was lodged on the complaint of an official of animal rights group People For Animals (PFA). Five people were arrested from a banquet hall in Sector 51 on November 3 and nine snakes, including five cobras, rescued from their possession while 20 ml of suspected snake venom was also seized.

However, police said Yadav was not present at the party hall and they were probing his role in the whole case of snake venom use as a recreational drug. PFA chairperson and BJP leader Maneka Gandhi has accused Yadav of involvement in illegally selling snake venom and sought his immediate arrest.