BeyondHeadlines Staff Reporter
New Delhi: The Uttarakhand High Court granted Acharya Balkrishna, a key aide of yoga guru Baba Ramdev, anticipatory bail today even as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) asked him to appear before it by August 4 in connection with a fake passport case, a CBI official said.
Fearing arrest by the agency, Balkrishna move the court to seek anticipatory bail. “The court granted bail till August 29,” Balkrishna told reporters in Dehradun.
Balkrishna was to appear before the CBI on Friday, but this deadline has been pushed back.
In Delhi, a CBI official said: “Balkrishna, who was to appear today (Friday), asked for 10 days time, but we gave him a deadline of Aug 4 to appear before the CBI in Dehradun.”
The CBI July 26 issued summons to Balkrishna, who has been accused of using fake documents to obtain an Indian passport, asking him to appear at its Dehradun office Thursday.
The agency said police officers, who had been sent to serve the summons, found Balkrishna missing from his residence.
Balkrishna, through a letter on Thursday requested the CBI to give 20 days time to appear before it as his passport is with an embassy in Delhi. Rejecting the request, the CBI asked him to appear on Friday at Dehradun.
The probe agency issued a lookout notice for Balkrishna, who was booked for allegedly ho lding a fake passport July 25. The agency has also alerted airports to prevent Balkrishna from leaving the country.
Earlier, the investigating agency had received a complaint that Balkrishna held more than one passport.
After the crackdown here on Baba Ramdev’s fast against corruption in June, the government had asked the security agencies to probe allegations that Balkrishna held multiple passports.
Balkrishna, who resurfaced in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar two days after mysteriously disappearing following the crackdown, denied all the allegations and asserted that he was an Indian and held an Indian passport.
Baba Ramdev’s business empire comprises 34 companies which are largely controlled by Balkrishna.
