Doon court acquits Balkrishna in forged certificate, passport case

A Dehradun court on Monday acquitted Balkrishna and Naresh Chandra Dwivedi in a case related to alleged forgery of educational certificates and fraudulent procurement of an Indian passport. The special judicial magistrate (CBI), also designated as the third additional chief judicial magistrate, Sandeep Singh Bhandari said that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt.

Balkrishna, general secretary of Patanjali Yogpeeth and close aide of yoga guru and businessman Baba Ramdev, had been facing charges under Section 471 of the IPC and Section 12(1)(b) of the Passport Act. Dwivedi was charged under Section 466 of the IPC.

The CBI had alleged that Balkrishna had used forged educational certificates while obtaining an Indian passport in 1998. It had claimed that the certificates from Sampurnanand Sanskrit University were not genuine and that Dwivedi had helped prepare them.

However, the court found major gaps in the evidence. It held that scanned copies of the educational certificates produced by the CBI were not admissible because the required legal procedure for electronic evidence was not followed.

The court also gave little credence to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory handwriting report, noting that the expert had acknowledged limitations in comparing photocopies. Besides, some prosecution witnesses were also found unreliable, while one key witness had turned hostile. The order stated that Balkrishna and Dwivedi are currently on bail, but the bail bonds furnished by them would be cancelled.