Who is Mahesh Langa, Gujarat-based journalist, arrested in the GST fraud case?

A Gujarat-based senior journalist was arrested on Tuesday morning in an alleged Goods and Service Tax (GST) scam case.

This news follows the filing of a complaint by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) in the name of 13 companies and their owners, alleging input tax credit (ITC) fraud.

Here’s all we know about him and the case.

Who is Mahesh Langa?

Langa is a senior assistant editor at The Hindu.

He has covered politics and social concerns, including unemployment, in Gujarat for 20 years and is regarded as an independent voice.

According to his LinkedIn profile, he has also worked with HT Media as a correspondent.

Following detailed questioning, journalist Mahesh Langa was arrested by the Crime Branch on Tuesday morning, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ajit Rajian said.

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What’s the case?

On Monday, the city Crime Branch registered an FIR against 13 people and entities, including DA Enterprises, a firm allegedly owned by the journalist’s cousin, Manojkumar Langa, after getting a complaint from central GST over an alleged scam of floating bogus firms.

The company is allegedly part of a network of 200 entities that attempted to avoid paying taxes by engaging in fraudulent activities.

Himanshu Joshi, a senior intelligence officer in the Ahmedabad office of DGGI, provided data mining inputs that were used to file the case.

After registration of the FIR, the Crime Branch along with Gujarat’s Economic Offences Wing raided 14 different locations across the state including in Ahmedabad, Junagadh, Surat, Kheda and Bhavnagar.

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“It appears that there is an involvement of over 200 fraudulently created firms working across the country in an organised manner to defraud the government exchequer by availing bogus input tax credit. Forged documents and identities were used for the creation of such firms for tax evasion,” a release by the Crime Branch said.

As to the FIR, Dhruvi Enterprise, a shell company, was allegedly engaged in fraudulent input tax credit transfers using fake invoices, without any real supply of goods or services. The company had gained GST registration through a forged rent agreement.

The GST paid by a registered entity is referred to as an input tax credit, and it can be used to partially offset the GST burden on products or services that the individual registered under the company supplies.

According to the investigation, 12 “active firms” received the accumulated input tax credit after six companies in India reportedly used the same PAN to register Dhruvi Enterprise.

The FIR claims the alleged fraud is said to have been committed between February 1 and May 1 last year.

How is Langa involved in the case?

DCP (crime) Ajit Rajian told The Indian Express, “We have recovered Rs 20 lakh unaccounted cash, some gold and several land documents from him.”

He claimed that the journalist, who is currently being questioned in the matter, was the one using the company for fraudulent activities.

According to Rajian, papers with Langa’s wife Kavita’s name were also discovered; however, the investigation has confirmed that she was unrelated to the entity’s activities. Neither Kavita nor Langa’s brother have been arrested.

Ahmedabad City Commissioner of Police Gyanender Singh Malik claimed, according to The Indian Express, that Kavita is a director in one of the firms involved in the GST fraud.

“However, when the Crime Branch questioned her, she said she did not know anything about any such company or her name being used in it. The police then questioned Mahesh Langa and found that he was the one who was handling the entire firm,” he alleged.

Speaking about the absence of Langa’s name in the FIR, he said, “Just because his name is not there in the FIR does not mean Mahesh Langa is not an accused. His role in one of the companies came out during the investigation, which is why he was placed under arrest by the Crime Branch.”

The police further claimed that there was a “large group working towards a criminal conspiracy for causing financial loss to the nation to the tune of revenue which may run into crores, by the way of using such fake billing, forged documents, and malafide misrepresentation of facts/documents.”

In addition to DA Enterprises, the FIR also mentioned Raj Infra, Haresh Construction Company, and Om Construction.

The case also involves Ajay, the son of Talala BJP MLA Bhagwan Barad, and his nephews, Vijaykumar and Ramesh Kalabhai Barad.

They are registered as owners of Aryan Associates, a company situated in Veraval, according to the police. The MLA has reported denied allegations of fraud.

Aijaz, a resident of Bhavnagar and a partner in a company that sells electric panel boards; Abdulkader, who deals in the sale of ready-made clothing, mattresses, and sugarcane juice; and Jyotish Magan Gondaliya, a Surat resident who runs a business with his wife, are the other people who were arrested by the Crime Branch on Tuesday.

Reacting to Langa’s arrest, The Hindu Editor Suresh Nambath, said on the social media app Bluesky, “While we have no details about the merits of the case, we are given to understand that this is not related to his reports published in The Hindu. We would like to state at this time that we appreciate his professional work for The Hindu as the Gujarat correspondent based in Ahmedabad. We do hope that no journalist anywhere is targeted for their work, and we expect the investigation to be conducted fairly and quickly.”

With inputs from agencies