New Delhi Oct 16 (UNI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in its chargesheet filed against YouTuber Elvish Yadav, rapper Rahul Yadav (Fazilpuria), a digital company, and its director has accused them of indulging in money laundering by generating money using income from videos that featured protected wildlife species like snakes and an iguana.
The prosecution complaint, filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), states that the songs “32 BORE” on Fazilpuria’s channel and a vlog on Elvish Yadav’s channel depicted the protected animals, which is a scheduled offence under the Wild Life (Protection) Act.
The ED alleges that the revenue generated from these specific videos constitutes “proceeds of crime.” According to the document, Fazilpuria received an advance of Rs 50 lakh from Sky Digital India Pvt. Ltd. for the distribution of the “32 BORE” video. The chargesheet states he acquired, possessed, and used these funds, a portion of which was used in the production of the offending video itself.
As the money is largely spent, the ED has provisionally attached agricultural land belonging to him valued at Rs 50 lakh.
The company, Sky Digital, which managed the monetization of “32 BORE,” is accused of retaining the video’s lifetime revenue of approximately Rs 1.24 lakh, which has been identified as proceeds of crime.
The ED has secured this amount in a fixed deposit. The company’s director, Gurkaran Singh Dhaliwal, has been accused of being in charge of and responsible for the company’s conduct.
For Elvish Yadav, the ED chargesheet states that his vlog featuring the protected species earned revenue of Rs 84,000. This amount has been identified as proceeds of crime, and a fixed deposit of this value has been created and attached.
The ED has alleged that all the accused are involved in processes connected to the proceeds of crime, thereby committing the offence of money laundering.
