Chargesheet filed against journalist Mahesh Langa; CA, cousins and wife cited as witnesses

Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) has filed chargesheet against senior journalist Mahesh Langa and 13 other co-accused in connection with the alleged GST fraud.

The chargesheet mentions ten individuals as witnesses against Langa that includes his two cousins-Manoj and Nilesh Langa, besides his wife Kavita, chartered accountant Jigar Shah, among others.

Shah is said to be the star witness while his two cousins are said to have given damning statements before the magistrate (under section 164 of CrPC) claiming how Langa was actually running the firm, DA Enterprises. Police officials said that the brothers had fallen apart over monetary disputes.

"As the proprietor of DA Enterprise he understated the actual profit of his firm by showing false purchase invoices to evade tax and received false GST tax credit without purchasing any goods," the summary of the chargesheet alleges.

Citing money trails, the chargesheet claims that Langa despite knowing that Dhruvi Enterprises, the main firm was opened on the basis forged documents and existed only only on paper, availed tax credit with the help of several co accused and obtained four false e-way bills (required for movement of goods under GST) amounting to Rs43,35,949.

The chargesheet alleges that Langa and other co accused "cheated the government by evading taxes and causing financial loss to the government."

A criminal conspiracy was hatched with the intention of obtaining tax credit, the chargesheet sums, adding that between February, 2023 and May, 2023 the accused persons forged original rental agreement based on which they obtained a GST number in the name of fictitious firm Dhruvi Enterprises.

The DCB has found a transaction of over Rs7 crore in the name of different firms without any real purchase or sale of goods. Dhruvi Enterprises created 128 false e-way bills and transferred tax credit to different bank accounts, which was recovered in cash through courier firms (angadia). The chargesheet claims that over Rs1.27 crore tax credit was obtained in this fashion

The chargesheet states that apart from Dhruvi Enterprises, Rs11 crore tax credit was availed by 30 fake firms on a transaction worth Rs60 crore by creating 1,800 e-way bills without any real purchase or sale of goods.

Langa, behind bars since his arrest on October 8, is also accused in a similar case registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Rajkot City's Detection of Crime Branch. Police have found financial transaction of Rs55.77 lakh between DA Enterprises and Rajkot-based Parmar Enterprises, the alleged shell company which is alleged to have orchestrated the scam.