NEW DELHI: A CBI team is likely to visit Nepal to collect information about yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s aide Acharya Balkrishna against whom it had registered a case of criminal conspiracy and cheating for allegedly procuring an Indian passport furnishing fake documents.
According to agency sources, the investigation official (IO) would visit Nepal to expedite the process of collecting information as foreign governments generally take a long time to reply through a letter rogatory (LR).
The agency’s investigation slowed down due to their inability to find any documentary evidence to dispute Balkrishna’s claim of being an Indian citizen by birth.
He claims that his parents are of Nepali origin but he was born in India. Moreover, as per the Indo-Nepal Treaty of 1950, any Nepali who lived in India for 11 years or more, could acquire Indian citizenship.
However, preliminary investigations by the agency had revealed that there are discrepancies in his educational certificates submitted to obtain an Indian passport from Bareilley, UP.
On the basis of these discrepancies, the agency registered a case against him.
The agency now wants to find out from Nepali authorities about his family background. It also wants to ascertain till what time he lived and studied in Nepal before coming to India.
Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand High Court refused to quash the agency’s FIR against Balakrishna but also continued to stay his arrest, on Friday. Justice Tarun Agrawal directed Balakrishna to cooperate with the agency’s investigations and barred him from leaving the country till the time the probe is completed.
The Uttarakhand High Court has granted stay on the arrest of Balkrishna after he had challenged the CBI’s case against him.
The agency had registered a case against him under IPC Sections 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) for procuring the fake degree and violation of Section 12 of the Indian Passport Act (knowingly furnishing false documents for getting passport) in July this year.