Man moves court seeking prosecution of Ramdev, Balkrishna

A disciple of Baba Ramdev moved an application in a local court seeking prosecution of Yoga guru Baba Ramdev and his aide Acharya Balkrishna for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy for unlawfully gathering thousands of people and "inciting" them for rioting at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi.

"The court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) RK Rawatkar has listed the petition, moved by Sachin Shukla, for hearing on July 1," the petitioner's counsel Mahesh Dixit told reporters today.

"In the petition, my client has stated that Baba Ramdev and Balkrishna entered into a criminal conspiracy to unlawfully gather thousands of people and incite them for rioting," he said.

Both, Ramdev and Balkrishna, had exerted "unnecessary" pressure on the government and "blackmailed " it, the petitioner said.

Shukla has stated that he had been a disciple of Ramdev and his feelings had been hurt as the Yoga guru and Balkrishna acted like businessman and politician during their protest in Delhi, Dixit said.

Shukla denied that his petition was politically motivated.

The Yoga guru, who is seeking repatriation of Indian black money stashed in the foreign banks illegally, had launched his fast at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi after talks with the Centre failed to reach the consensus.

Ramdev and the protesters were, however, forcibly evicted from the Maidan by police in a midnight crackdown on June 5.