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

Gujarat police has slapped charges of theft against arrested journalist of The Hindu, Mahesh Langa, following the recovery of some confidential documents of the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) from him.

Police in Gandhinagar booked a second case against Langa on Tuesday (October 23). The journalist is already in jail in connection with a scam related to evasion of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). However, he was not named in the earlier FIR.

Police on Langa

“The FIR was filed against Langa…for possession of confidential document of the GMB, charges of criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy,” said Ravi Teja Vasamsetty, the Superintendent of Police of Gandhinagar. “The documents were recovered from his possession during the investigation into the GST case,” he added.

Also read | How pan-India probe led to uncovering of multi-crore GST scam in Gujarat

The police also raided the GMB office at night on Tuesday and quizzed several of its officials to know who leaked the documents to Langa. The journalist’s phone was also checked for evidence.

“The police will now investigate how he obtained the documents, including the minutes of a confidential meeting,” a police official said. “Several aspects of this case are being explored. Primarily, the focus is on how the documents managed to slip out of the GMB office.

“The police are also looking into who facilitated the movement of these documents and how they eventually made it out of Gujarat,” the officer added.

Bail plea rejected

A Magistrate’s court in Ahmedabad declined Langa’s plea for bail for a second time since his arrest. He had sought bail after the completion of his 10-day police custody on October 19.

Langa has been sent to judicial custody. He is lodged in the Sabarmati Central Prison in Ahmedabad.

Meanwhile, the Ahmedabad City Crime Branch has arrested five more people in the GST scam. They are Adil Khokhar, Kadar Khokhar, Akil Pathan, Shahrukh Rangrej and Sarfaraz Chauhan, all from Bhavnagar district. With this, the total number of persons caught in this case has gone up to 13.

Also read | Explained: How do GST input tax credit frauds take place?

​​​​​​The investigation began with the Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI) filing a complaint on October 5. And so, the police raided several places in seven districts on October 7.

On October 8, the Crime Branch in Ahmedabad filed an FIR that named proprietors of 23 shell firms across Gujarat allegedly involved in GST evasions.

BJP MLA’s family involved

The FIR named the sons and cousin of a BJP MLA as well as a cousin and wife of Mahesh Langa among others. The same day, the agency made its first arrest of four people including Langa.

On October 13, four more accused – Faizal Munaf Shaikh of Bhavnagar, Irfan alias Padu Sattar Jethwa of Bhavnagar, Jignesh Himmatlal Desai of Bhavnagar and Paresh Pradeep Dodiya of Rajkot – were arrested.

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

All of them were sent to the Sabarmati jail in judicial custody after their police custody ended on October 18.

GST scandal

On October 17, the Enforcement Directorate joined the investigation and raided the premises of the 23 shell firms in Junagadh, Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Veraval, Rajkot, Surat and Kodinar.

The agency filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Dhruvi Enterprises, which is at the center of the multi-crore case.

According to the police, the scam involved floating bogus firms with an intent to defraud the government by availing bogus input tax credit through fraudulent transactions.