New Delhi:

Five accused in the fake goods and services tax (GST) billing scam in Gujarat were arrested by the Rajkot branch of the economic offences wing (EOW) today. The arrests happened after the police and EOW officials searched 14 locations simultaneously. A company linked to The Hindu journalist and key accused Mahesh Langa has come under scrutiny.

The locations included Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Ahmedabad, Veraval, Kadi, Mehsana, Gandhinagar, Shapar, and Rajkot. The five suspects allegedly have a hand in creating fake bills and transactions.

Police inspector SM Jadeja said a GST fraud worth approximately Rs 60 lakh has been committed using a Rajkot-based company, Parmar Enterprises.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Parthrajsinh Gohil said the Rajkot police received information 20 days ago about fraudulent transactions where fake bills were being generated by shell companies to pass on GST credits.

During investigation, they found that three companies — DA Enterprises, Aryan Associates, and Arham Steel — had already been checked by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch. Based on this information, the Rajkot Crime Branch took action.

Parmar Enterprises was also involved in GST fraud in other Gujarat cities including Mehsana, Junagadh, Gandhinagar, Rajkot, Gir Somnath, and Jamnagar.

DA Enterprises, a company linked to Mahesh Langa, was involved in a majority of the undisclosed transactions in the scam.

Mahesh Langa’s bail petitions were rejected, except for one in which a sessions court granted him bail. He remains in jail pending a high court decision on his bail, expected on Friday.

The police may question Mahesh Langa again, following the arrests by the Rajkot EOW in the GST scam. Parmar Enterprises was allegedly created using a fake rental agreement to obtain a GST number. This rental agreement was submitted along with the application for GST registration, leading to the creation of the ‘Parmar Enterprises’ GST number.

Using this fake company, several other companies participated in the GST fraud. The companies involved include Yash Developers, Ikara Enterprises, Civil Plus Engineering, Dhanshree Metal, DA Enterprises, Aryan Associates, Jyoti Infrastructure, Arham Steel, Riddhi Infrastructure, Ashapura Trading, Shiv Milan Plastics, Globetra Impex, Maa Durga Steel, Maruti Nandan Construction, and Lakhubha Nanbha.

Ahmedabad:

A court in Ahmedabad has denied bail to journalist Mahesh Langa in a GST fraud case, observing that the offence alleged against him is serious and the offence being an economic one, affects the economy of the nation.

Additional Sessions Judge Hemangkumar Girishkumar Pandya said the applicant has fraudulently obtained GST credit of Rs 6,61,416 and is not entitled to bail.

“Economic offences constitute a class apart and need to be visited with a different approach in the matter of bail. The economic offence of having deep-rooted conspiracies and involving huge loss of public funds needs to be viewed seriously,” the judge added.

The court said economic offences have serious repercussions on the development of the country as a whole and in the last few years, the country has been seeing an alarming rise in white-collar crimes which has affected the fibre of the country’s economic structure.

Earlier on October 30, the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate had turned down the journalist’s bail plea, observing there was prima facie evidence of his active involvement in the conspiracy to cheat the government as well as the possibility of his tampering with evidence if released.

Mahesh Langa has been in custody since October due to an alleged goods and services tax scam, with an FIR registered on October 7 by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch based on a complaint from the Central GST. A second FIR was filed against him in Gandhinagar on October 23, following the alleged recovery of documents related to the Gujarat Maritime Board.

According to the Director General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), the October 7 FIR also names shell company, Dhruvi Enterprises, and 12 other companies associated with it.

As per details of the facts which have been uncovered in the investigation by the Ahmedabad Police so far, the companies had used such forged bills for the purpose of cheating the government exchequer by falsely claiming input tax credits in order to evade GST dues. As per the report of DGGI, similar credentials such as mobile numbers, PAN cards, etc, were used to make another 220 suspected shell companies.

Searches were carried out at 19 places across the state in the districts of Bhavnagar, Surat, Junagadh, Rajkot, Ahmedabad, etc.

“So far, we have seized 29 computers, 38 mobiles, seven laptops and several documents and have sent them for forensic analysis. Further investigation is ongoing,” the Ahmedabad Police said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

A journalist from Gujarat, in judicial custody in a case of alleged Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion, was charged in a separate case last week for allegedly possessing confidential government documents, sparking outrage from some quarters, including the Editors Guild of India. 

Officials have, however, alleged that none of the documents related to the Gujarat Maritime Board, recovered from Mahesh Langa – a senior assistant editor with The Hindu – were used by him for professional purposes, and alleged that a corporate espionage ring was at play. 

Ahmedabad Police Commissioner GS Malik said on Tuesday that the investigations had been professional and the police were not being vindictive towards Mr Langa. He added that the first information report in the documents case has been registered in Gandhinagar and details have been shared with the police there. 

“Our investigations have been professional. Rs 20 lakh cash and incriminating documents were recovered from his house. In the GST case, his wife and cousin were also named as partners in one of the companies, if there was any vindictiveness… they are innocent and we have arrested only the main accused. According to their income tax returns from 2022-23, the couple earned Rs 15 lakh a year and Rs 20 lakh has been found from his house alone. He used to live a lavish lifestyle, stay in 5-star hotels and has also visited foreign countries. So, our investigation has been professional,” Mr Malik asserted. 

“Mr Langa used his lifestyle and his connections to make people believe he could get their work done. He also portrayed himself as a broker in land deals. We have now registered another FIR based on a complaint from a person who has said Mr Langa has cheated him of Rs 28 lakh,” he said. 

Officials said no information from the confidential documents of the Gujarat Maritime Board made it to Mr Langa’s reportage in any print or electronic platform, indicating that he did not have them for journalistic purposes. They also said their initial investigation points to a corporate espionage ring, with bureaucrats supplying documents through Mr Langa to certain corporate players.

The Enforcement Directorate, which has already launched a probe based on a complaint by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence, is closely scrutinising the case based on leads from multiple raids. People familiar with the investigations maintained that bureaucrats who were using motivated leaks would face action.

The Gujarat police has charged Mahesh Langa for the illegal possession of government documents and is carrying out more searches to uncover what they call “the nexus”. The police have conducted searches and inquiries at the office of the maritime board and have arrested one employee of the board for allegedly leaking the official documents.

The journalist’s counsel has, however, denied any link to the companies in question or alleged fraud.

‘Worrisome’

The Editors Guild of India (EGI) said it had noted the FIR against Mr Langa in the documents case with concern. 

“Journalists are often required to access and review sensitive documents in the course of their work, and initiating punitive action against them for doing their work is worrisome… EGI hopes that Mr Langa will not be deprived of fair and speedy justice. It is important that the Gujarat police disclose details about the second set of accusations leveled against him over possessing the confidential documents,” the Guild said in a statement on Monday.

Responding to the Editors Guild’s post on X, Malini Parthasarathy, the former chairperson of the Hindu Group, said on Monday that journalists are not above the law and “press associations & journalists do no favour to this great profession by shielding journalists from accountability for their actions that have nothing to do with the publications they work for”. 

She also said that the FIRs against Mahesh Langa were not registered “on the basis of” reports filed by him for The Hindu and were for other charges that require investigation.

“It is unfortunate that this incident centering solely on an individual answerable in his private capacity for his own actions, has taken on the colour of an attack on press freedom & said to be a violation of his journalistic rights,” she wrote.