Gandhinagar: With the Enforcement Directorate (ED) likely to join the investigation into an alleged multi-crore GST fraud recently uncovered in Gujarat, there is significant turmoil within the state’s bureaucracy, a newspaper report stated.

The Ahmedabad crime branch has dismantled a complex network of fraudulent activities involving 220 counterfeit companies, raising concerns about potential money laundering. Authorities found “sensitive” communications exchanged between high-ranking IAS and IPS officers and journalist Mahesh Langa, who is currently in custody for ten days in connection with the case, the report states.

“We have shared case details with the ED and the Income Tax Department, as the accused appear to have created dummy companies for money laundering purposes,” stated a senior police officer. The ED has initiated a preliminary inquiry and is expected to file an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR).

“Most of these babus and cops hold important positions in the state government. We will scrutinize whether benefits were exchanged for trading this information since no articles related to the documents were published,” a source told TOI.

Meanwhile, there have also been reports that Ahmedabad police commissioner G S Malik personally interrogated Langa on Sunday about his information exchanges with bureaucrats, senior police officials, and businessmen.

There was also buzz on social media about this, as Abhijit Iyer Mitra, a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, tweeted two days ago that “Langa was peddling sensitive documents on critical infrastructure which never made it to The Hindu. Instead they were shared with the media cell chief (MCC) of a major opposition party. WhatsApp convos reveal that Langa was not only sharing these docs but also drafting the statements that the MCC was putting out + what MCC should or should not say at the presser. Police say these docs were also peddled for consideration to corporates & that they have the entire WhatsApp trail. Police also say two Gujarat bureaucrats are now in deep soup. Police will be making the names public in the coming weeks, but the question worth asking is why MCC has been quieter than a mouse since Langa’s arrest?…

“If police are to be believed then several people in the Hindu chain of command were aware the documents were in Langa’s possession and being forwarded in return for money and/or political brownie points – but plausibly did not pass it up to top management as per police sources,” the tweet added. 

DELHI MEDIA GOSSIP: Gujarat Police sources: @LangaMahesh was peddling sensitive documents on critical infrastructure which never made it to the @the_hindu. Instead they were shared with the media cell chief (MCC) of a major opposition party. WhatsApp convos reveal that Langa was

— Abhijit Iyer-Mitra (@Iyervval) October 14, 2024

Langa and three others were arrested and remanded to ten days of police custody on October 9, following the booking of 13 firms and their owners for alleged input tax credit (ITC) fraud, based on a complaint from the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI).