Noida police on Friday arrested five people under the Wildlife Protection Act for supplying snakes and their venom at rave parties allegedly organised by social media influencer and Bigg Boss winner Elvish Yadav.

The police said the FIR had been registered against six people, including Yadav.

“Five of the six accused have been arrested while Yadav is absconding. Yadav used to organise rave parties where snake venom was provided for recreational purposes,” said a police officer, adding nine snakes, including five cobras, and snake venom were recovered from the accused.

The arrested persons have been identified as Rahul, Titunath, Jayakaran, Narayan and Ravinath. The accused told cops that the rave parties were organised at several hotels and farmhouses in the national capital and its adjoining areas and Yadav used to shoot videos with snakes and post them on YouTube and Instagram.

Snake venom and other banned drugs were consumed by people attending those rave parties. Many foreign nationals also attended those parties,” said the police officer.

Yadav denied all charges in a video posted on social media. Acting on a complaint by an animal welfare NGO run by BJP MP Maneka Gandhi, police raided a rave party in a Noida hotel and arrested the five.