HC grants interim bail to accused in Rs 55-crore Dhirendra Brahmachari ashram land case

A year after a cheating and forgery case was registered regarding property once owned by yoga guru Dhirendra Brahmachari, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has granted interim bail on health grounds to 78-year-old Kashmir Singh Pathania – an elected member of the Aparna Ashram Society.

Justice Alok Jain’s Bench was told that Dhirendra Brahmachari got the society registered and the property in dispute – 192 kanal and 16 marla – was purchased by him. The FIR in the matter was registered on June 2 last year at Sector 40 police station in Gurugram on a complaint received from Badshahpur Sub Registrar-cum-SDM.

It was added that the petitioner had initially moved an application seeking permission for manual registration of the sale deed in relation to the land. “On examining the complaints, it came to the complainant’s knowledge that the petitioner hid all the pending court cases in relation to the land and also presented false facts, on the basis of which permission was granted for manual registration of the sale deed,” the Bench was further told.

Gurugram Deputy Commissioner-cum-Registrar Amit Khatri then withdrew permission for manual registration. Information in this regard was directed to be conveyed as early as possible to Wazirabad Sub-Registrar. But the sale deed was manually registered, in spite of withdrawing the permission. Consideration was not paid even though the consideration stated in the sale deed was Rs 55 crore to be paid through 29 cheques.

As the bail petition came up for hearing before Justice Jain’s Bench, senior advocate Bipan Ghai with counsel Nikhil Ghai and Brajesh Kumar Yadav sought relief on medical grounds. Referring to the medical status report, Justice Jain observed: “A perusal of it clearly demonstrates that the petitioner is suffering from carcinoma lung with suspected brain metastasis, which in layman language is the spread of the cancerous cells from the lungs towards brain”.

Justice Jain added the State counsel “very fairly” submitted that the petitioner’s condition was deteriorating. “In light of it, the petitioner is granted the concession of interim bail for six weeks… the petitioner shall surrender back on July 14 before 5 pm,” the Bench concluded.