The Gujarat High Court on Thursday denied bail to journalist Mahesh Langa in a case registered by the Rajkot Police for alleged Goods and Services Tax (GST) fraud. .Langa, a journalist with The Hindu, sought regular bail from the High Court, arguing that his arrest was politically motivated.Given the large-scale fraud reportedly involving 1,500 fake invoices, Justice MR Mengdey decided against granting bail at this stage, citing serious allegations, ongoing investigation and multiple FIRs against the journalist."From the record it appears that apart from the present F.I.R., several other F.I.R. appears to have been lodged against the present applicant...In the present case, the F.I.R. has been lodged on 27.11.2024. The investigation of the present offence is still in progress. Moreover, after registration of the F.I.R., wherein the applicant has been considered for grant of bail by this Court, several other offence of similar nature have been registered against him," the Court observed..Langa is facing charges under Section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), Section 465 (punishment for forgery), Section 467 (forgery of valuable security), Section 468 (forgery intended to cheat), Section 471 (using a forged document as genuine), Section 474 (possession of forged documents with intent to use as genuine), and Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.Langa's counsel contended that the FIR was filed only in November 2024 though the alleged offences took place between June and September 2023. There is explanation for the delay, he said. The journalist was arrested on December 20, 2024 and has been in custody since then, it was pointed out..The prosecution alleged that he fraudulently availed Input Tax Credit (ITC) worth ₹8.5 lakh through his firm, DA Enterprises. Langa's counsel argued that he was willing to repay the amount but was never asked to do so by the authorities. He also claimed that creating false bills does not amount to forgery and that the charges against him were based solely on the statements of co-accused..Langa's counsel maintained that the alleged offence under the GST Act carries a maximum one-year sentence and that he has already been in jail for over 1.5 months.The State government opposed the bail, arguing that apart from wrongfully availing ITC, the case also involved money laundering. The prosecution claimed that the accused created a bogus firm using forged documents and purchased fake invoices to claim ITC without conducting actual business. Additionally, funds from these transactions were allegedly transferred through multiple accounts and possibly laundered abroad, it was informed..The prosecution also pointed out that the accused had a history of similar offenses, with multiple FIRs filed against him. It argued that merely offering to repay the disputed amount did not absolve him of criminal liability.Taking into consideration the arguments of the counsel and facts of the present case, the Court proceeded to dismiss the bail plea."Having regard to this aspect, this Court is not inclined to exercise its judicial discretion in favour of the applicant at this stage. The application is dismissed," the Court noted.Advocate AJ Yagnik and advocate Vedant J Rajguru appeared for Langa.Additional Advocate General Mitesh Amin, Public Prosecutor Hardik Dave, Assistant Public Prosecutor Shruti S Pathak and advocate Hardika Vyas appeared for State..Justice Mengdey had earlier granted bail to Langa in the GST fraud case registered by the Ahmedabad Police..[Read Order]
