Gujarat: ED arrests Mahesh Langa of The Hindu in money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday arrested a Gujarat-based journalist in a money laundering investigation linked to an alleged financial fraud, officials said.

Mahesh Langa, a correspondent for the Hindu in Gujarat, was taken into custody and produced before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court in Ahmedabad, they said. The court sent Langa to ED custody until 28 February, the officials said.

This is not, however, Langa's first brush with the case. On 19 September 2024, the senior journalist with the Hindu reported that the BJP’s membership drive in Gujarat was rife with fraudulent enrolments.

In the first week of October 2024 itself, Langa was detained for an alleged GST scam, though he said he had nothing to do with the firm in which his wife was a silent partner. In that instance, he was remanded to police custody for 10 days.

The Ahmedabad-based Langa is known for his unsparing criticism of the state's ruling BJP, and his exposé published before his 2024 detention revealed that the party was ‘enrolling’ members without their consent or knowledge. 

The money laundering case against Langa stems from two FIRs filed by the Ahmedabad Police on charges of committing fraud, criminal misappropriation, criminal breach of trust, cheating and causing wrongful loss of lakhs of rupees to certain people. Langa's lawyer had earlier denied the charges made against him.

The reporter was found to have engaged in multiple "fraudulent" financial transactions involving large sums of money, as per the ED. It alleged that his financial dealings involved "extortion" from various individuals, constant manipulation, and "use of media influence."

The federal probe agency claimed that Langa was also involved in the GST input tax credit "scam", which is also being investigated by the ED.

"Langa has tried to manipulate and obscure the true nature of financial transactions involved in cheating and 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 agency alleged.

With agency inputs