Criminal case against Elvish Yadav for assaulting content creator

Gurugram: YouTuber Elvish Yadav and a few others with him allegedly assaulted a Delhi-based content creator in a shopping mall here in Sector 53 area, police said on Friday.

The incident was reported on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented the first-ever National Creators' Awards at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi and urged content creators on Friday to start a "create on India movement" and share stories on the country's culture, heritage and traditions with the world.

A purported video of the alleged assault has surfaced on social media.

The complainant Sagar Thakur, a Delhi resident, also claimed that Yadav "tried to break his spine" and "threatened to kill him".

Thakur is a content creator with over 1.6 millions subscribers on YouTube, 8,90,000 followers on Instagram and 2,50,000 followers on X.

In his complaint, Thakur said he and Yadav have known each other since 2021.

"In the last few months, Elvish fan pages have been spreading hate and propaganda which made me distressed,” he said.

Thakur said Yadav asked to meet him on Friday and he accepted thinking it to be a “discussion”.

“When he came to the store – he and his 8-10 goons, who were drunk – started beating me and started using abusive language. Elvish Yadav tried to break my spine so that I would become physically disabled.

“Before leaving, Elvish Yadav threatened to kill me and I was almost unconscious (after the beatings),” Thakur said in his complaint.

The incident happened around 12.30 am on Friday, he added.

Following the complaint, an FIR was registered against Yadav and others under sections 147 (riots), 149 (unlawful assembly), 323 (causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC at Sector 53 Police Station on Friday evening, police said.

A probe into the matter is underway, SHO Rajender Kumar said.

On November 3 last year, six people, including Yadav, were booked under provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and IPC Section 120A (criminal conspiracy) for allegedly providing snake venom for the suspected rave party at a banquet hall in Noida's Sector 51.

The forensic reports of samples collected from the said party have been confirmed as venom of snake species.

While five of those named in the FIR were arrested, Yadav was questioned in the matter but not arrested. According to police, Yadav, who was not present at the party, is being investigated on charges of providing venom for the event.

After his name cropped up in the case, the 26-year-old YouTuber took to social media to refute the charges against him, dubbing them "baseless, fake and not even 1 per cent true".