Tough road ahead for Ramdev's companies

More troubles are brewing for yoga guru Ramdev after the CBI registered a case against his close aide Acharya Balkrishan, with Enforcement Directorate probing the funding part of his business empire, that includes cash-rich trusts.

Apparently, fearing his imminent arrest in a CBI case of cheating and forgery, Balkrishan has gone missing from Haridwar.

A missing report had been lodged in Kankhal police station of Haridwar late last night by his gunner Jayendra Singh Aswal.

. . .

Balkrishan is heading several companies of Ramdev, including the Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) mega Patanjali food and herbal park at Haridwar.

A host of top employees of the Patanjali Ayurved Limited, including its vice president C L Kamal, have quit giving further setback to the expansion plans of these companies.

Already, the plans of introducing nearly 20-30 new products have been postponed indefinitely, with the fate of several companies like Patanjali Parivahan Limited and Patanjali Hydroponics Limited, facing an uncertain future, sources said.

. . .

In addition to this, the developments have also cast a shadow on the working of other companies like Patanjali Flaxipack pvt ltd and Patanjali Natural Coloroma pvt ltd.

"All of these companies have not shown results to our expectations due to upheaval surrounding Ramdev," a top company official said.

Meanwhile, a police team on Tuesday reached Divya Yog ashram and questioned its officials regarding Balkrishna's whereabouts.

. . .

However, officials informed the police that Balkrishna had gone for some urgent work and he would soon return to the ashram.

The ashram officials denied having any knowledge as to where Balkrishna had gone for work, sources said.

The CBI had registered a case of forgery and cheating against Balkrishna on Sunday.

Haridwar senior superintendent of police Kewal Khurana said the police would investigate all the missing cases of Haridwar, including that of Shankar Dev, guru of Ramdev.