Gujarat: Breather for Mahesh Langa as HC issues notice to govt, GST dept

The Gujarat High Court has issued a notice to the government and the GST department following a plea by arrested journalist Mahesh Langa to quash the second FIR filed against him at Rajkot in the GST scam case.

Advocate Anand Yagnik, representing Langa, argued that a second and subsequent FIR arising from the same GST offences was not maintainable.

“An investigation may happen but in connection with the first FIR that is already registered by Detection of Crime Branch (DCB), Ahmedabad, against Langa. So, that can be taken as reference for investigation as the second FIR is similar to the first FIR,” he said.

First and second FIRs

Justice Sanjay Bhatt, while serving the notice to the GST department and the Gujarat government on Monday, said the case will be again heard on January 7.

The second FIR was filed against Langa on November 27 by the Economic Offence wing of DCB, Rajkot, in connection with the original case filed against him by DCB, Ahmedabad, in the GST fraud case.

The FIR was filed at DCB Police Station, Rajkot, under sections 420 (cheating), 465 (punishment for forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).

Also read: 'Benami firms, bogus ITC, fake bills': What we know about Mahesh Langa case till now

The police investigation

The FIR states that police officer JM Kaila requested the department on November 1 to provide information related to e-way bills needed for movement of goods under GST, generated by Parmar Enterprises.

On November 22, a sub-inspector of the agency found that documents obtained by Parmar Enterprises were forged and the company didn’t exist at its address.

On further investigation by CGST Rajkot, it was found that Parmar Enterprises benefited from ineligible In Tax Credit (ITC) to the tune of Rs 61 lakh after generating bogus bills of nearly Rs 3.50 crore.

The dubious company

The firm then passed on the ITC to the co-accused firms and individuals, including DA Enterprise that bought four fake bills worth Rs 47 lakh from Parmar Enterprises.

On December 22, DCB Rajkot sought 14-day judicial remand to interrogate Langa. However, a metropolitan court of Rajkot granted four days of remand.

The DCB petition said a financial transaction to the tune of Rs 55.77 lakh took place between DA Enterprises, a firm allegedly supervised by Langa, and Parmar Enterprises, the alleged shell company which is said to have orchestrated the scam.

Also read: Gujarat cops slap fresh case against Mahesh Langa, this time for theft

Langa arrested again

“Langa’s custody is necessary for in-depth investigation into his role in the offence,” it read.

Following the remand order, the district agency arrested Langa from Sabarmati Jail where he had been lodged since his arrest on October 8.

This is the sixth FIR against Langa in the last two months since the investigation of the multi-crore GST scam began.

A case of cheating

Earlier, an FIR was filed against Langa by DCB Ahmedabad, the GST department of Gujarat, the Enforcement Directorate and by police in Gandhinagar for being in possession of sensitive documents of the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB).

Another FIR accusing Langa of cheating of Rs 28 lakh was filed by Pranay Shah, an Ahmedabad-based businessman who runs Khushi Advertising Ideas Pvt, an advertising firm.

However, a city civil and sessions court granted anticipatory bail to Langa in the cheating case on November 25 saying he was a resident of Ahmedabad and there was no possibility of fleeing from the court of justice.

Also read: Editors Guild seeks details of ‘inaccessible’ second FIR against Langa

Court’s observations on Langa

Langa had also applied for bail in the GST case, first in the magistrate court and then in the high court. But his bail application was denied by both.

During the bail hearing in the high court, Langa’s lawyer Yagnik stated that the journalist was willing to pay back the money evaded under ITC.

The court stated: “The ongoing probe reveals that Langa played an active role in the commission of the offence and hatched a conspiracy with other co-accused to evade income tax and GST. It appears to have committed a serious crime by making financial transactions and obtaining bogus input credit and causing loss of crores of rupees to the nation’s income. The investigation is ongoing and the total amount of tax evaded has not been calculated yet. There is also a possibility of tampering with evidence.”