Thursday, October 24, 2024

Jailed journalist Mahesh Langa now booked for 'keeping confidential documents'

Voice of Media October 24, 2024 Media

Ahmedabad : Gujarat Police registered a theft case against senior journalist Mahesh Langa. Mahesh is already in jail on charges of GST scam. Actually, he is accused of creating bogus firms in the name of his wife and father through fake documents and suspicious transactions. He was arrested by Ahmedabad Crime Branch this month. This is the second FIR against him after his arrest. Government documents were recovered from his premises. Mahesh Langa worked with a famous newspaper of Gujarat. He was sent to judicial custody last week after his remand in the GST case ended.

District Superintendent of Police Ravi Teja Vasamsetti said on Wednesday, "The second FIR was registered at Sector 7 Police Station in Gandhinagar on Tuesday night." He said that the online FIR cannot be presented to the public as it has been placed in the sensitive category.

Gujarat-based journalist Langa now booked for ‘possession of confidential documents.
So, possession of documents showing govt corruption is an offence? What about the Whistleblower protection act?
Mahesh Langa’s arrest is sign of a corrupt panicky govt https://t.co/kUoDdbIQtY
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) October 24, 2024

A complaint was lodged with the Central GST on the scam involving companies created to cheat the government through fake credit and fraudulent transactions. After receiving the complaint, City Crime had registered an FIR against several people. The SP said, "During the investigation, Ahmedabad Police recovered some documents of Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) from his (Langa's) premises. Although these documents are government property, the board officials contacted us and lodged a complaint against Langa and an unknown employee of GMB."

The Ahmedabad Crime Branch arrested five more people in this case on Tuesday. With this, the Crime Branch has arrested 14 people in this case so far. Recently, cases of availing input tax credit by creating fake firms on a large scale have come to the notice of the GST department in the country. The department has found a large number of bogus firms, after which it registered an FIR against several people on October 7.