U'khand HC stays Ramdev aide Balkrishna's arrest

The Uttarakhand high court on Friday stayed the arrest of yoga guru Ramdev's close aide Balkrishna, charged with procuring fake educational certificates, and asked him to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation on August 3.

Justice Tarun Agrawal also asked the probe agency to file a reply to the court on Balkrishna's petition within three weeks, his lawyer Rajendra Dobhal said.

The court, while hearing a plea seeking stay on the arrest, asked the accused to cooperate with the CBI in investigations and appear before it on August 3. Balkrishna is facing charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy for procuring fake educational degrees and using them in getting a passport.

The petition for stay on the arrest of Balkrishna was placed before Justice P C Pant on Thursday. However, he recused himself and referred it to Chief Justice Barin Ghosh.

Earlier, Ramdev's aide made two pleas to CBI seeking 10-20 days time to appear before it, which were rejected by the investigating agency.

However, with Friday's court order, the pleas by Balkrishna have become infructuous as the judge asked him to appear before the agency on August 3.

The next date of hearing has been fixed on August 29, advocate Dobhal said.