The Allahabad High Court on Monday dismissed Elvish Yadav’s prayer to cancel the chargesheet and summons issued against him in connection with the snake venom case, delivering a major setback to the YouTuber.

While dismissing Yadav’s plea orally, Justice Saurabh Srivastava said that there are several allegations in both the FIR and the chargesheet which need to be checked and tested during the trial. The single-judge bench further pointed out that Yadav had only challenged the chargesheet and not the FIR.

Meanwhile, Yadav’s lawyer argued that the complainant was not competent under the Wildlife Act to file the FIR against his client. According to Yadav’s counsel, the complainant, who was no longer an Animal Welfare Officer, showed that he was one in the FIR, according to Live Law.

He further contended that Yadav was not present at the party and there were no drugs or psychotropic substances that were recovered from him.

However, the prosecution argued that snake venom was recovered from the people Yadav had supplied to.

Not convinced by Yadav’s arguments, the High Court dismissed Yadav’s plea, leaving it for the trial to decide his fate after looking into all the accusations.

Yadav is facing allegations of organising rave parties in Noida where snake venom and other hard drugs were used. According to the chargesheet, Yadav was accused of making people, including foreigners, consume these substances.