# Patanjali CEO Acharya Balkrishna Gets Court Relief After 15-Year Passport Forgery Case

> A Dehradun CBI court has acquitted Patanjali CEO Acharya Balkrishna of all charges in a nearly one-and-a-half-decade-old case over allegations of obtaining a passport with forged documents.

**Type:** article · **Category:** Uttarakhand · **Published:** 2026-09-07 · **Source:** TrendKia
**Canonical:** https://trendkia.com/en/uttarakhand/pasaporta-vivada-men-derha-dashaka-bada-acharya-balkrishna-ko-adalata-se-mili-klina-chita-29006 · **Language:** English
**Tags:** Acharya Balkrishna, Patanjali, Passport Forgery Case, CBI Court, Dehradun, Uttarakhand High Court

A CBI court in Dehradun has acquitted Patanjali CEO Acharya Balkrishna of all charges in a nearly one-and-a-half-decade-old case involving allegations that he obtained an Indian passport using forged documents. The verdict was delivered by the Third Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate court in Dehradun, which cleared him of every section invoked against him.

## How the case began
The controversy dates back to 2011, when a complaint alleged that Balkrishna was originally a citizen of Nepal and had secured his Indian passport on the strength of fake paperwork. The allegation triggered widespread attention at the time. As the probe progressed, the CBI exchanged correspondence with the Nepal government in 2016. The agency subsequently filed a chargesheet against Balkrishna under provisions covering cheating, forgery and the Passport Act. The same investigation also named Naresh Chand Dwivedi, a former principal of an educational institution, as an accused on charges of cheating and forgery.

## From complaint to FIR
Official records show the complaint against Balkrishna surfaced in April 2011. The CBI opened a preliminary enquiry in June 2011 and formally registered an FIR the following month, in July 2011. Investigators alleged that the educational certificates submitted for the passport at the Bareilly passport office were not genuine. Those documents were traced to Radha Krishna Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya in Khurja, in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr district, an institution affiliated with Sampurnanand Sanskrit University in Varanasi. Questions were raised over the authenticity of these certificate records at an early stage of the enquiry. The FIR invoked section 120-B for criminal conspiracy, section 420 for cheating, sections 468 and 471 covering forgery of documents, along with relevant provisions of the Passport Act.

## Arrest, bail and a month behind bars
As the case escalated, the Uttarakhand High Court granted Balkrishna interim protection from arrest in July 2011 and directed him to deposit his passport with the court. Roughly a year later, once its investigation concluded, the CBI filed its chargesheet before a special court in July 2012. When Balkrishna failed to appear, a non-bailable warrant was issued against him, and the CBI arrested him on 20 July 2012. He was sent to judicial custody at Sudhowala Jail in Dehradun. After spending about a month in custody, he was granted conditional bail by the Uttarakhand High Court in August 2012.

## Framing of charges and the trial
In October 2013, the court formally framed charges against Balkrishna under IPC sections 120-B, 420, 468 and 471, alongside provisions of the Passport Act. Those charges were challenged, and following a Sessions Court order in June 2014, they were revised in August 2014. The trial thereafter proceeded only under IPC section 471, covering forgery, and section 12(1)(B) of the Passport Act, which deals with knowingly furnishing false information or concealing material facts.

## Passport returned in 2018, and now an acquittal
Amid the prolonged legal proceedings, the Uttarakhand High Court in 2018 allowed Balkrishna to reclaim his passport and get it renewed. Nearly one and a half decades after the case first surfaced, the Third Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate court in Dehradun has now closed the matter, acquitting Acharya Balkrishna of every charge and every section brought against him.

## What this means for you
This verdict directly affects Acharya Balkrishna and those associated with Patanjali, since a legal burden that lasted nearly one and a half decades has now come to an end.

- **Across India:** For Patanjali's millions of consumers and business associates, this case is now fully closed. With legal uncertainty removed from around the company's CEO, there is no lingering negative effect on Patanjali's day-to-day operations.
- **In Dehradun-Uttarakhand:** The case ran for years through Dehradun's courts, keeping local judicial machinery and the CBI's Uttarakhand unit under watch. With the matter now resolved, one more long-pending case has been cleared from the local court's docket.
- **A lesson in legal process:** The case shows that matters involving the Passport Act and IPC sections can take up to a decade and a half from investigation to verdict. For anyone with similar cases pending against them, it is a reminder of how important it is to keep accurate documentation on record.

## Questions & Answers

### 1. What was Acharya Balkrishna accused of?
He was accused of obtaining an Indian passport using forged educational documents.

### 2. When did this case begin?
A complaint was received in April 2011, a preliminary enquiry began in June 2011, and an FIR was registered in July 2011.

### 3. Under which sections did the CBI file its chargesheet?
The CBI filed its chargesheet under IPC sections 120-B, 420, 468 and 471, along with provisions of the Passport Act.

### 4. When was Acharya Balkrishna arrested?
He was arrested on 20 July 2012 and sent to Sudhowala Jail in Dehradun.

### 5. When was he granted bail?
After about a month in custody, the Uttarakhand High Court granted him conditional bail in August 2012.

### 6. Who is Naresh Chand Dwivedi?
He is a former principal of an educational institution who was also accused of cheating and forgery in the same case.

### 7. What has the court now decided?
The Third Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate court in Dehradun has acquitted Acharya Balkrishna of all charges and sections in the case.

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