Acharya Balkrishna acquitted in 15-year-old fake passport case, says truth prevailed

A special CBI court in Dehradun acquitted Acharya Balkrishna in the fake passport case. He said the ruling proved the truth after a mentally exhausting legal battle.

In Short

• Dehradun special CBI court ended long-running proceedings against Acharya Balkrishna
• CBI alleged forged certificates from Khurja were used for passport application
• The documents were reportedly submitted at the passport office in Bareilly

Acharya Balkrishna, the general secretary of Patanjali Yogpeeth, the managing director of Patanjali Ayurved, and a close aide of Baba Ramdev, was acquitted by a special CBI court in Dehradun on Monday in a 15-year-old case involving alleged use of fake documents to obtain a passport.

The court cleared Balkrishna of all charges in the case, bringing an end to the long-running legal proceedings against him.

The case traces back to the submission of forged educational certificates to obtain an Indian passport. According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the documents were linked to a Sanskrit college in Khurja and were submitted at the passport office in Bareilly.

The CBI had registered a case against Balkrishna under relevant provisions of the law and the Passport Act over the alleged use of the documents.

The prosecution had alleged that the educational certificates were used as supporting documents during the passport application process. However, the special CBI court on Monday acquitted Balkrishna of all the charges.

Following his acquittal, Acharya Balakrishna said he had never lost faith in the Indian judicial system and that the verdict had ultimately established the truth.

However, Balkrishna said the legal battle had been “mentally exhausting”, adding that he had to endure what he described as false allegations and several insults that took a toll on him. Nevertheless, he said he never lost faith in the Indian judicial system and that the verdict ultimately vindicated him.

- Ends