More trouble for journalist Mahesh Langa as 2nd FIR filed

The Gujarat police have registered a theft case against senior journalist Mahesh Langa, who is already behind bars in an alleged Goods and Services Tax scam, following the recovery of some documents of the Gujarat Maritime Board from him, an official said.

This is the second First Information Report (FIR) registered against Langa after his arrest earlier this month by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch in the alleged GST scam.

Langa, who worked with a leading newspaper in Gujarat, was sent to judicial custody last week after his remand in the GST case came to an end.

"The second FIR was registered on Tuesday night at Sector 7 police station in Gandhinagar city," District Superintendent of Police Ravi Teja Vasamsetty said on Wednesday.

The online FIR is not accessible to the public as it has been put under "sensitive" category, he said.

Sources said that Langa and an unidentified employee of the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) have been booked on the charges of theft and under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

"During the investigation, the Ahmedabad police recovered some official documents of the GMB from his possession. Since these documents are government property, the board officials approached us and lodged a complaint against Langa and an unidentified employee of the GMB (who gave him documents)," the SP added.

Meanwhile, the Ahmedabad crime branch on Tuesday arrested five more persons in connection with its ongoing probe into the GST fraud case, a release by the crime branch said.

With this, the crime branch has so far arrested 14 persons, including Langa, after the registration of an FIR earlier this month.

The crime branch on October 7 registered the FIR against several persons and entities after getting a complaint from central GST over an alleged scam of floating bogus firms with an intent to defraud the government by availing bogus input tax credit through fraudulent transactions, a release by the Crime Branch said.