ED chargesheet against Elvish Yadav, Fazilpuria for wildlife offence linked money laundering case

New Delhi, Oct 16 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate has filed a chargesheet against YouTuber Siddharth Yadav alias Elvish Yadav, his friend singer Rahul Yadav alias Fazilpuria and two others, and charged them with money laundering in an alleged wildlife crime involving protected snakes and lizards, official sources said.

The prosecution complaint was filed on October 13 before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Gurugram, Haryana.

The court is yet to take cognisance of the chargesheet.

Yadav (28), Fazilpuria (35), a company named Sky Digital India Pvt. Ltd. and its director Gurkaran Singh Dhaliwal have been named as the accused in the chargesheet, the sources told PTI.

The content of Fazilpuria's online platform was managed and monetised by Sky Digital India, according to the ED.

Yadav has been accused of generating, acquiring, and possessing "proceeds of crime" worth Rs 84,000 from the monetisation of an "offending" video uploaded in 2023 that depicted live snakes and an iguana (a protected species of lizard).

The ED said he is the "owner and operator" of the YouTube channel 'Elvish Yadav Vlogs' and exercises sole control over uploading and monetisation of the platform.

A video titled 'Fazilpuria Bhai Ke Shoot Pe Russian Se Mulakat Ho Hi Gayi @fazilpuria' depicted live snakes and an iguana was created by committing the scheduled offence (under the Wild Life Act) and was uploaded by him on 23.03.2023, the agency said.

Fazilpuria has been charged for the same offence as it was found during investigation that he was the creator and owner of a music video named '32 BORE' in which protected wildlife species (snakes and an iguana) were used in contravention of Section 51 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act.

He has been accused of generating proceeds of crime worth more than Rs 50 lakh, as per the ED.

The ED had provisionally attached a land of Fazilpuria worth Rs 50 lakh in the Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh and a fixed deposit worth Rs 84,000 of Yadav as part of this investigation.

The agency has alleged that Yadav and Fazilpuria "illegally used protected species of snakes, exotic animals, such as iguanas, in the production of commercial music videos and vlogs for the purpose of increasing followers and generating money".

"These music videos were given to Sky Digital India Pvt. Ltd., and then the videos were uploaded on YouTube for generating revenue," it said.

Both Yadav and Fazilpuria were questioned by the federal agency at its zonal Lucknow office.

The agency had registered a case against the accused in May and pressed charges under the PMLA after taking cognisance of two police FIRs and a chargesheet filed against Yadav and linked persons by the Gautam Buddh Nagar district (Noida) police in Uttar Pradesh and the other by the Gurugram police.

Yadav was arrested by the Noida police earlier.

The ED chargesheet has been filed taking cognisance of the Haryana Police case.

The controversial YouTuber, also the winner of reality show Bigg Boss OTT 2, was booked under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, Wildlife Protection Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). PTI NES KVK KVK