Haridwar/New Delhi, July 20
Vice-Chancellor of Patanjali Ayurvedic University Acharya Balkrishna, a close aide of yoga guru Ramdev, was today arrested by a CBI team on the charge of getting a passport on the basis of fake documents.

A five-member CBI team arrived at Patanjali Yogpeeth (Phase-I) around 2.30 pm with a non-bailable warrant issued against Balkrishna by a special court. The team had to face a stiff resistance from Bharat Swabhiman Trust members, yoga guru supporters and Patanjali Yogpeeth employees. To pacify the crowd, the police decided to take away Balkrishna in his personal Landrover car. The arrest was effected around 3 pm and he was taken to Dehradun for producing him in the court.

Talking to The Tribune while waving to a large number of supporters gathered at Patanjali Yogpeeth, Balkrishna said he had full faith in the law of the land. He said he was willing to get sacrificed for the sake of motherland in order to clean it of corruption, corrupt politicians and bringing black money back to India.

“I was born in India though my parents hailed from Nepal. The Indian Constitution gives me the right to be citizens of this country. So, as per the Constitution of India, I am very much an Indian. I have not forged any documents,” he said.

Terming the arrest as politically motivated, enraged supporters of Balkrishna burnt effigies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the CBI outside the Patanjali Yogpeeth. Protests were also reported from various other parts of the district.

In charge of the Bharat Swabhiman Trust Jay Deep Arya said the CBI move was on the specific directions of the Congress high command that wanted to curb the anti-black money agitation being spearheaded by Ramdev and Balkrishna.

Sources in the CBI said the arrest of Balkrishna was long due, but he had got a stay against it from the High Court of Uttarakhand. Issuing the stay order, the court had said Balkrishna should not be arrested till the CBI had completed 
its investigation.

The agency filed a chargesheet on July 10 in a special court at Dehradun. It had also accused the then Principal of Sanskrit Mahavidayala, Khurja, Uttar Pradesh, for helping Balkrishna.