Mahesh Langa, a Gujarat-based journalist at The Hindu, was arrested along with three others by the Detection of Crime Branch, Ahmedabad on Tuesday in an alleged GST scam.
“We have recovered Rs 20 lakh unaccounted cash, some gold and several land documents from him,” deputy commissioner of police, Crime Branch, Ajit Rajian said as quoted in a report by The Indian Express. Police alleged that Langa availed and passed on a bogus input tax credit (ITC) through fake bills.
More than 200 benami (fake) firms have been uncovered which are set up on the basis of forged documents and involved in fraudulent transactions across the country.
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Langa is not named in the FIR. However, his cousin Manojkumar Langa is named as one of the proprietors of an Ahmedabad-based firm, DA Enterprise, in which Mahesh Langa’s wife is a partner, as per the police. Langa’s cousin and wife have not been arrested. In the same case, Ajay, the son of BJP MLA from Talala in Gujarat Bhagwan Barad and MLA’s nephews Vijaykumar Kalabhai Barad and Ramesh Kalabhai Barad have been accused. According to police, they are listed as proprietors of Gujarat’s Veraval-based Aryan Associates.
The editor of The Hindu Suresh Nambath reacted to the journalist’s arrest on X, saying, “One of our journalists, Mahesh Langa, has been arrested by the Crime Branch of the Ahmedabad City Police on a complaint registered by the Central GST.” In the post, he further said that the arrest does not relate to his reports published in The Hindu.
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A day earlier, 13 firms and their proprietors were booked for alleged ITC fraud, based on a complaint filed by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI). The Economic Offences Wing and the Special Operations Group, acting on the complaint, had carried out raids at 14 premises across five districts—Ahmedabad, Junagadh, Surat, Kheda and Bhavnagar.
The FIR relating to Langa’s arrest alleged that the fraud was committed between February 1 and May 1 last year. Police and FIR, as quoted in The Indian Express report, mention that a firm called Dhruvi Enterprise is the prime accused in the case, which allegedly created six firms from a single PAN (permanent account number). The aim, as per the Police, was to avail ITC by showing transactions that never really occurred.
Others arrested have been identified as Aijaz, a Bhavnagar resident and a partner in a firm selling electric panel boards; Abdulkader, another Bhavnagar resident involved in the sale of sugarcane juice, readymade clothes and mattresses; and Jyotish Magan Gondaliya from Surat who owns a firm with his wife.
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