Balkrishna appears before CBI court

Dehra Dun: Baba Ramdev’s close aide Balkrishna, who is out on bail, today appeared before a CBI court here in connection with a fake document case. Balkrishna appeared before Special CBI Magistrate Preeto Sharma who fixed 7 September as the next date of hearing, CBI counsel Rajmohan Chand said.[caption id=“attachment_432409” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Acharya Balkrishna. Reuters[/caption] Besides Balkrishna, co-accused in the case NC Dwivedi was produced before the court, he said. Dwivedi, in jail in Dehra Dun, has been charged with helping Balkrishna get fake educational certificates as the then Principal of Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya Khurja in Uttar Pradesh. The fake degrees were later allegedly used by Balkrishna to procure an Indian passport. Though Balkrishna was granted bail by the Uttarakhand High Court on 16 August, Dwivedi is still in jail as his bail plea was rejected by the CBI court last Friday. Balkrishna was arrested by the CBI on 20 July after the court issued non-bailable warrants against him as he failed to appear before it. Dwivedi had, however, surrendered before the court on 6 August. The CBI had on 10 July filed a charge-sheet in the court against Balkrishna. The agency had registered a case of cheating and criminal conspiracy against Balkrishna on 23 July last year for allegedly procuring fake degrees and violating section 12 of the Indian Passport Act by furnishing fake documents to get a passport. PTI