New Delhi [India], February 25 (ANI): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Gujarat-based journalist Mahesh Langa in a money laundering case.

This move comes days after the Gujarat Police in January this year registered a case against Langa for allegedly extorting Rs 40 lakh from a real estate agent by threatening to malign his image and implicate him in a false case.

An Ahmedabad court has granted ED four day custody of Mahesh Langa.

'ED, Ahmedabad has arrested Mahesh Prabhudan Langa under the provisions of PMLA, 2002 in the case of Mahesh Prabhudan Langa & others. Mahesh Prabhudan Langa was produced before the Hon'ble Special Judge (PMLA), Mirzapura Court, Ahmedabad and the Hon'ble Special Judge (PMLA) has granted 04 days ED custody till February 28, 2025,' the Enforcement Directorate said in a post on X.

The journalist Langa is currently in jail in four previous cases registered by Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Rajkot police.

Gujarat Police had registered a fresh FIR under section 308 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against Langa that deals with extortion. The case was registered on January 23 by the Satellite police station in Ahmedabad city on a complaint by Janak Thakor, a real estate agent and a social worker.

https://x.com/dir_ed/status/1894427152453673037

So far, a total of five FIRs have been registered by Gujarat Police against Langa, who worked with a leading newspaper in Gujarat, after his arrest by the Ahmedabad police's crime branch in an alleged Goods and Services Tax (GST) scam in October last year.

The first FIR against Langa and others was registered in October last year on a complaint from the central GST department over an alleged scam of floating bogus firms with an intent to defraud the government by availing bogus input tax credit through fraudulent transactions.

Later, on October 23, Langa and an unidentified employee of the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) were booked by the Gandhinagar police on the charges of theft following the recovery of official documents from his premises during raids conducted by the crime branch in connection with the alleged GST fraud.

In same month, Ahmedabad police registered a cheating case against Langa for allegedly duping a businessman of Rs 28.68 lakh.

In December last month, Rajkot police took Langa's custody from Sabarmati Jail and formally arrested him in another case of GST evasion. (ANI)