Rajkot police detains journalist Mahesh Langa jailed in tax evasion case

Senior journalist Mahesh Langa, jailed for alleged goods and services tax scam in Gujarat, was arrested in Rajkot in a separate tax evasion case registered by the crime branch last month, an official said on Friday Police arrest.

Police inspector-cum-investigating officer SN Jadeja said a team from the Rajkot crime branch took Mr Langa into custody from Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad and on Friday (December 2024) 20) and brought him here for further investigation.

He said the Rajkot crime branch registered an FIR on November 27 and so far 12 people have been arrested in the tax evasion case.

However, Mr Jadeja refused to reveal details about Mr Langa’s alleged tax evasion.

Based on a complaint filed at the Central GST Office in Rajkot, an FIR was registered against the owners of 14 companies, including Ahmedabad-based DA Enterprise.

It is worth noting that Mr Langa’s name does not appear in the FIR, but he is said to run DA Enterprise.

According to the FIR, the companies and their owners were involved in a conspiracy to avail bogus input tax credit (ITC) using fake bills and documents, which resulted in a loss of Rs 61.38 million to the government.

The ITC under the GST regime allows businesses to reduce their tax liability by claiming credit on the tax paid at the time of purchase. The purpose is to reduce operating costs.

Working with Mr. Langa Hindus, Already faced three FIRs. He was first booked by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch in October for alleged GST fraud.

Later, Mr. Langa and an unidentified employee of the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) recovered it from his residence during a raid conducted by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch for GST fraud. Some official documents were stolen and a case of theft was registered by the Gandhinagar police.

Later, he was booked by the Ahmedabad police for allegedly defrauding a businessman of Rs 28.68 million.

In the past, Ahmedabad police had said Mr Langa’s wife Kavita and cousin Manoj were partners in questionable companies run by the journalist. They said DA Enterprise had a turnover of Rs 67 crore in 2022-23.

Both Ms Kavita and Mr Manoj later claimed in their statements before a magistrate that they were innocent because the company was run only by Mr Langa.

“DA Enterprise was used to move funds by artificially inflating expenses in the form of false bills and collecting cash in return. The money was transferred to (another company) Dhruvi Enterprise and then withdrawn in cash and returned through the hawala network to Mahesh,” Ahmedabad police chief GS Malik said in October.