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CBI hits hurdle as court continues stay on Acharya Balakrishna arrest
The CBI faced a major setback on Friday as the Uttarakhand High Court decided to continue stay on the arrest of Acharya Balakrishna in the alleged fake passport case.
At the same time the High Court refused to quash the FIR registered against Balakrishna by the premier investigating agency, accusing him of acquiring a passport with the help of fake documents. The High Court directed Acharya Balakrishna to cooperate with the CBI and be present before the said investigating agency as and when required.
Taking a serious note of the case the High Court also directed Acharya Balakrishna not to leave the country till the case is over. More importantly, as per the direction of the High Court, Acharya Balakrishna's passport, which he had to deposit at the office of the registrar general of the High Court, would continue to be with it.
However, the High Court stated that in case the trial court needs Balakrishna's passport, it may submit an application as per the rule.
In its judgment of July 29, the High Court rejecting CBI's plea to arrest Balakrishna in the alleged fake passport case, ordered to put a stay on his arrest. At the same time the High Court also asked Balakrishna to cooperate with the premier investigating agency and be present before it as and when required. Since then the passport of Balakrishan is with office of the registrar general of the High Court.
On Friday after two days' arguments by the counsels of the respective parties, all eyes were on the High Court's verdict. Following certain allegations as leveled by the CBI against Balakrishna in the fake passport case, some experts were sure that the verdict might go against Balakrishan.
Interestingly, Balakrishan has again received much-needed relief from the High Court. But experts opine that since Uttarakhand High Court has rejected Balakrishna's plea to quash the FIR filed against him, the much-talked about case of acquiring passport on the basis of fake educational and other relevant documents, as alleged by the CBI, is still in the open.
It remains to be seen whether the CBI succeeds in proving the allegations against Balakrishna in the coming days or not.
