Supreme Court raps Ramdev in Patanjali ads case, says 'You are not so innocent...'

The top court heard the contempt case against Ramdev and his aide Acharya Balkrishna, who together founded Patanjali.

The court said as quoted by NDTV, "We have not decided whether to forgive you or not. You have violated (directives) thrice. The earlier orders are under our consideration. You are not so innocent that you did not know what's happening in court."

Though the court said it respects Ramdev for his contribution to yoga, it questioned the two founders as to why they shot down other forms of medicines giving stress on Ayurveda.

This comes almost a week after the top court ripped apart Patanjali and its founders rejecting their "unconditional apology" in connection with the misleading advertisements.

When senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Patanjali founders, told the court about the mistakes, the Supreme Court came out with a harsh rebuke.

"We are not blinded...We don't want to be generous in this case," the bench said as quoted by India Today.

"The apology is on paper. Their back is against the wall. We decline to accept this, we consider it a deliberate violation of undertaking. Be ready for something next to rejection of the affidavit," the court further said.

The court also lashed out at Patanjali co-founder and yoga guru Ramdev for exempting from court appearances citing travel plans.

The court noted Ramdev initially claimed he did not have the ticket and then filed a backdated ticket in the affidavit.

Calling the action "perjury", the court warned him, "You're taking the process very lightly."