Recently, a city civil and sessions court in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, granted anticipatory bail to Mahesh Langa, a journalist with The Hindu, in connection with allegations that he defrauded a businessman of ₹28 lakhs.

Additional Sessions Judge HG Pandya granted the bail after observing that Langa, being a local resident with strong societal ties, was unlikely to flee. The court also pointed out the unexplained delay in filing the cheating case.

"Considering the fact that the First Informant has not assigned any reason for delay in lodging the complaint, I (am) inclined to exercise discretionary power in favour of the present Applicant, by allowing the present anticipatory bail," the court said.

The trial court also took into account that the maximum sentence for the alleged offense in this case was seven years of imprisonment. Additionally, the judge noted that the matter seemed to be more of a civil dispute concerning money rather than a criminal offense.

Currently, Langa is in judicial custody at Sabarmati Central Jail in connection with an alleged GST scam, with his bail application pending before the Gujarat High Court.

The present case revolves around a first information report (FIR) filed by the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB), following a complaint by Pranay Shah, the owner of Khushi Advertising Ideas Pvt Ltd. Shah claimed that he met Langa at a coffee shop in Bodakdev around a year and a half ago, where Langa allegedly introduced himself as a journalist with powerful political and bureaucratic connections.

According to Shah, Langa promised to publish "positive news" about his clients in newspapers and facilitated meetings with media personnel in Delhi. Shah transferred ₹28 lakhs to Langa’s account on March 16 and June 6, 2024, for these services.

In his anticipatory bail plea, Langa denied the allegations of fraud, asserting that any amounts transferred by Shah were for consultancy services provided. He claimed to have evidence on his mobile phone supporting his defense, but was unable to present it as the phone had been seized by the police in the GST case. Langa also expressed his willingness to deposit ₹28 lakhs with the trial court to demonstrate his good faith in the matter.

The State opposed Langa’s anticipatory bail, arguing that custodial interrogation was necessary. However, the court granted Langa anticipatory bail on the condition that he submit a bail bond of ₹15,000 with a surety of the same amount, along with other standard bail conditions.

Advocate AJ Yagnik represented Langa in the matter.