Gujarat court grants anticipatory bail to journalist Mahesh Langa in alleged cheating case

Ahmedabad: A city civil and sessions court on Monday granted anticipatory bail to journalist Mahesh Langa in connection with the third FIR registered with Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) allegedly for cheating a businessman of Rs 28 lakh.

Langa is under judicial custody in Sabarmati Central Jail in connection with the alleged GST scam. In this case, his bail application is pending in Gujarat high court where he has moved after lower courts junked his pleas.

"The Applicant (Langa) who is a local resident of Ahmedabad City, having deep root in the society, there is no possibility of fleeing away from the Court of Justice. Considering the fact that the First Informant has not assigned any reason for delay in lodging the complaint, I incline to exercise discretionary power in favour of the present Applicant, by allowing the present anticipatory bail," additional sessions judge HG Pandya said in his order, while granting relief to Langa.

This FIR has been filed by Pranay Shah who runs an advertising firm Khushi Advertising Ideas Pvt Ltd. He has alleged that he met Langa at a popular coffee joint in Bodakdev where he introduced himself as a resourceful journalist with contacts in political and bureaucratic circles.

Langa allegedly promised that he would help Shah in publishing "positive news" in newspapers. According to the FIR, Langa "arranged meetings" with media persons in Delhi at different hotels and helped Shah publish positive news about his clients in different newspapers. According to Shah, on March 16 and June 6, he transferred a total of Rs 23 lakh to Langa’s account.

The money was paid to help Langa purchase a corporate office for his wife at posh Sindhu Bhavan Road in Ahmedabad. The amounts were transferred through a private firm Vyomeen Media Pvt Ltd, a company managed by Pranay Shah's friend Darshan Shah.

Vyomeen Media is also the parent company of a start up which deals with public relations co-founded by Darshan Shah. The start-up "provides local news publishers and reporters a digital platform, and connects them to mainstream media for better visibility and marketability."

Shah has alleged that he also paid bills, a little of Rs5.68 lakh, on behalf of Langa to "Jade" banquet hall where he celebrated his wife's birthday. Shah has alleged that Langa had taken money with the promise of returning them which he never did. He has alleged that when he asked to return the amount, Langa allegedly refused. Shah, according to the FIR, approached police after learning about Langa's arrest in the GST scam on October 8.

In his anticipatory bail application, Langa has defended himself as saying that that the complainant, Shah, has no locus standi in filing the FIR as he directly didn't transfer such amount and hasn't mentioned in the FIR whether he transferred any amount to Vyomeen Media. Langa has said that he never received any notice either from Shah or Vyomeen Media demanding the money back.

Langa stated in his application, "It is an admitted position in the FIR that the applicant (Langa) has actually done the work as promised to the complainant in past and therefore there was never any intention on the part of the applicant since inception to defraud the complainant and therefore offence alleged in the FIR are not made out against the applicant."

Langa's lawyer Anand Yagnik told the court that the complainant runs an advertising agency "Khushi Advertising Media Pvt. Ltd" and the money Langa received "is nothing but a legal dues for service provided by the applicant (Langa) as a consultant."

Yagnik told the court that the details of the "consultancy" work is there in his phone which has been seized by the police. Yagnik told the court that the applicant was ready to deposit Rs.28 Lakhs in the court to show his bonafide.

"The registration of the present FIR against the applicant is politically motivated and is only done to make sure that the applicant remains behind bars and does not pursue his journalistic activities," Langa has said in his application.

Langa is facing another case registered by Gandhinagar district police for possession of "sensitive documents". The Enforcement Directorate is also investigating money laundering allegations based on the FIR in connection with the GST scam.