Ramdev aide gets bail, to appear before CBI on Aug 4

Jul 29, 2011 |

IANS

New Delhi/Dehradun

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Acharya Balkrishna, a key aide of yoga guru Baba Ramdev, got anticipatory bail Friday even as the CBI asked him to appear before it by Aug 4 in connection with a fake passport case, a CBI official said.

Fearing arrest by the agency, Balkrishna move the Uttarakhand High Court to seek anticipatory bail. "The court granted bail till Aug 29," Balkrishna told reporters in Dehradun.

Balkrishna was to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation (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 August 4 to appear before the CBI in Dehradun," an official said.

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, 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 Friday at Dehradun.

The probe agency issued a lookout notice for Balkrishna, who was booked for allegedly ho lding a fake passport on 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.

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