A fresh case has been filed against senior journalist Mahesh Langa by the Gujarat police for allegedly possessing “confidential” government documents. Langa, who is a senior Assistant Editor at The Hindu, is currently in judicial custody, after being arrested for alleged evasion of Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The Indian Express reported that Langa was booked for possessing documents pertaining to the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB). These documents were recovered during the arrest of the journalist in the case of alleged tax evasion. The police failed to provide details of the charges against Langa in the latest case, according to the report.
Reportedly, the Gandhinagar police conducted inquiries at the GMB office on Tuesday, October 22, to identify the person who gave the documents to Langa.
Langa was arrested on October 8 under sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 474, and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code. It is alleged that DA Enterprises, the company which belongs to his brother Manojkumar was evading tax duties. Curiously, the police did not arrest Manojkumar. Officials allege that it was Langa who was using the firm for “fraudulent activities.” A total of 13 persons have been arrested in the case.
Meanwhile, senior journalists have condemned the action against Langa.
Author and journalist Kalpana Sharma said that the fresh charges against Langa proved that The Hindu journalist is being harassed on false charges for his journalism, which was critical of the BJP-led Gujarat government.
“Two weeks ago, after @LangaMahesh senior assistant editor of @thehindu was arrested in a GST scam, many of us asked whether this was because of his journalism. Today, the absurd additional charges, reinforce what we suspected,” Kalpana Sharma wrote on X.
Executive Editor of The Caravan Hartosh Singh Bal said that Langa is being targeted by the state for his journalism. He urged all the journalists including The Hindu to see it as a case of a journalist being hounded for doing his work. “the gloves are off, as a community all of us who claim to be journalists should get off the fence including @the_hindu. for those who had any doubts, this is a case of a journalist being hounded for being a journalist,” he wrote.
Similarly, Executive Editor of Scroll.in Supriya Sharma said that the charges against Langa were “ridiculous.” “Finding government documents at a journalist's home is like finding books in a library. It is our job to collect and analyse documents,” she said.