The Gujarat Police have booked journalist Mahesh Langa, who was arrested this month for alleged goods and services tax (GST) fraud, for alleged cheating. It is the third case against Langa. It was registered in Ahmedabad on Tuesday on the complaint of the owner of an advertising company.
The second case against Langa, the Hindu’s correspondent in Ahmedabad, was related to the Gujarat Maritime Board. The matter has been described as sensitive due to national security concerns as it pertains to ports. In a statement, the Ahmedabad Police said that Langa maintained his persona as an investigative journalist and allegedly used it to access offices and personnel.
It added he privately introduced himself to Indians and foreigners as a financial broker, land dealer, and lobbyist who worked for cash and kind. The statement said Langa’s unexplained lavish lifestyle, including stays at five-star hotels and presidential suites, business and chartered flights, luxury clothes, and expensive foreign travel, prompted the authorities to involve the Income Tax Department in a separate investigation. Hindu Publishing Group director N Ram Gujarat said if journalists are imprisoned or otherwise penalised for obtaining and analysing documents, much of investigative reporting would become extinct! “Support a journalist’s right to obtain and process a confidential or ‘sensitive’ official document in the line of his or her work.
Condemn the Gujarat police’s charges on this count agains.
