On 25th February, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Gujarat-based ‘The Hindu’ journalist Mahesh Langa in a money laundering case. The arrest came days after the Gujarat Police in January this year registered a case against Langa for allegedly extorting Rs 40 lakh from a real estate agent by threatening to malign his image and implicate him in a false case. An Ahmedabad court has granted ED four-day custody of Mahesh Langa.
In a post on X, ED said, “ED, Ahmedabad has arrested Mahesh Prabhudan Langa under the provisions of PMLA, 2002 in the case of Mahesh Prabhudan Langa & others. Mahesh Prabhudan Langa was produced before the Hon’ble Special Judge (PMLA), Mirzapura Court, Ahmedabad and the Hon’ble Special Judge (PMLA) has granted 04 days ED custody till February 28, 2025.”
ED, Ahmedabad has arrested Mahesh Prabhudan Langa under the provisions of PMLA, 2002 in the case of Mahesh Prabhudan Langa & others. Mahesh Prabhudan Langa was produced before the Hon’ble Special Judge (PMLA), Mirzapura Court, Ahmedabad and the Hon’ble Special Judge (PMLA) has…
— ED (@dir_ed) February 25, 2025
In the official press release, ED said that the investigation was initiated by the agency based on an FIR registered by DCB Police Station, Ahmedabad City, Ahmedabad, Gujarat against Langa and others for cheating and criminal breach of trust. During the investigation, the agency found that another FIR has been filed by Satellite Police Station against him for committing fraud, criminal misappropriation, criminal breach of trust, cheating and causing wrongful loss of lakhs of rupees to the complainant.
Furthermore, the agency found that Langa engaged in multiple fraudulent financial transactions involving large sums of money. The agency said, “Mahesh Prabhudan Langa’s financial dealings involved extortion from various individuals, constant manipulation, and use of media influence. Further, Mahesh Prabhudan Langa is also involved in the ‘GST Input Tax Credit scam’, which is also under investigation by the directorate. Mahesh Prabhudan Langa has tried to manipulate and obscure the true nature of financial transactions involved in cheating and the GST Input Tax Credit scam. The inconsistencies in his statement raised further suspicion about his attempts to hide the origins and purpose of the utilization of funds.
The journalist Mahesh Langa is currently in jail in four previous cases registered by Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Rajkot police. Gujarat Police had registered a fresh FIR under section 308 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against Langa which deals with extortion. The case was registered on January 23 by the Satellite police station in Ahmedabad city on a complaint by Janak Thakor, a real estate agent and a social worker.
So far, a total of five FIRs have been registered by Gujarat Police against Langa, who worked with a leading newspaper in Gujarat, after his arrest by the Ahmedabad police’s crime branch in an alleged Goods and Services Tax (GST) scam in October last year.
The first FIR against Langa and others was registered in October last year on a complaint from the central GST department over an alleged scam of floating bogus firms with an intent to defraud the government by availing bogus input tax credit through fraudulent transactions.
Later, on 23rd October, Langa and an unidentified employee of the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) were booked by the Gandhinagar police on the charges of theft following the recovery of official documents from his premises during raids conducted by the crime branch in connection with the alleged GST fraud.
In the same month, Ahmedabad police registered a cheating case against Langa for allegedly duping a businessman of Rs 28.68 lakh. In December last year, Rajkot police took Langa’s custody from Sabarmati Jail and formally arrested him in another case of GST evasion.
Further investigation into the matter is underway.
With inputs from ANI.
