A general view of the Supreme Court of India.
| Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap
The Supreme Court on Monday (March 3, 2025) issued a notice to Gujarat government on a special leave petition filed by The Hindu’s Ahmedabad correspondent Mahesh Langa against an order of the Gujarat High Court refusing to grant him regular bail on February 6 in a forgery case.
Also read | HC grants bail to Gujarat journalist in GST case
A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta listed the case in two weeks after senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Meenakshi Arora and advocate Abhimanue Shrestha, appearing for Mr. Langa, said he has already spent 70 days in custody.
Ms. Arora submitted the co-accused persons have been granted bail. To Justice Nath’s query about his appearance in the case, Mr. Sibal replied “we have to stand by some people”.
Also read | Police file cheating case against journalist Mahesh Langa
Earlier in October, the police registered a cheating case against Mr. Langa for allegedly duping a businessman of ₹28.68 lakh. On October 23, a second FIR was registered against the journalist by the Gandhinagar Police after the recovery of documents of the Gujarat Maritime Board from his possession, Ahmedabad Commissioner of Police G.S. Malik said.
The Enforcement Directorate had said that Mr. Langa was “controlling” an accused company, DA Enterprises, from whose premises unaccounted-for cash was seized by the Gujarat Police recently as part of an investigation into the GST fraud case. The agency undertook fresh searches in the money laundering case on seven premises in Ahmedabad, Surat and Bhavnagar and seized “incriminating” documents.
The money laundering case stems from an Ahmedabad Crime Branch FIR filed on receipt of a complaint from the Directorate General of GST Intelligence.
(With inputs from PTI)
Published – March 03, 2025 12:31 pm IST