Mahesh Langa, a senior assistant editor at The Hindu, who has been in judicial custody in a case of alleged GST evasion since October 8, has now been booked for possession of documents related to the Gujarat Maritime Board, Indian Express reported. 

Gandhinagar police said the documents were recovered from Langa’s possession during his arrest in the GST case. The report said that the police did not disclose the sections under which Langa has been booked. The police lodged an FIR at the Sector 7 police station and also allegedly raided the GMB office. 

Meanwhile, the Ahmedabad police arrested five Bhavnagar residents in the GST evasion case, “in what is being called a nationwide racket of evading GST by a network of 220 shell companies, many of them based in Gujarat”. The five arrested men are Adil Kadar Khokhar, Kadar alias Navdi Rafiqbhai Khokhar, Akil Anubhai Pathan, Shahrukh Rafiqbhai Rangrej, and Sarfaraz Mustufa Chauhan. So far, at least 13 firms and their proprietors have been booked and arrested in the case.

Langa had earlier moved the Gujarat High Court challenging his 10-day police remand, calling it “politically motivated”. But he withdrew his plea on October 14.

Newslaundry earlier reported about the allegations involving Langa in the GST case. Read all about it here.

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