Supreme Court Issues Notice On Journalist Mahesh Langa's Bail Plea In Money Laundering Case

The Supreme Court today issued notice on the bail plea of journalist Mahesh Langa in a money laundering case lodged in connection with two FIRs (which included the offence of cheating).

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi passed the order, after hearing Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal (for Langa), who argued that the cases have been registered on false allegations.

"One FIR, anticipatory bail. Second FIR, anticipatory bail. Third FIR, they say there is income tax evasion..." Sibal urged. Based on the allegations, Justice Kant commented, "What kind of a journalist he (Langa) is?"

When Sibal asserted that false allegations have been levelled, the judge added, "There are very genuine journalists. But there are also people on vehicle/scooter saying we are patrakaar (journalist) and what they do everybody knows". On this, Sibal said, "There are other matters against him, he has got documents of the court. There's a background...".

Ultimately, the bench issued notice on the petition.

Langa filed the present petition after the Gujarat High Court dismissed his plea for bail, observing that he had a number of antecedents and that while in custody he had influenced witnesses.

Before the High Court, Langa, who was working with The Hindu, had argued that as per PMLA, twin conditions would apply only in those cases where amount involved is more than Rs. 1 crore, whereas, in the present case, the total amount involved in the predicate offences was Rs. 68.68 (Rs. 28.68 Lakhs mentioned in FIR No.1 + Rs.40 Lakhs mentioned in FIR No.2) which is less than Rs.1 crore. Therefore, the rigors of twin conditions under Section 45 would not come into play.

However, the Court rejected his argument and said that threshold of Rs.1 crore not having been crossed, by itself, would not entitle him to be enlarged on bail as a matter of right. It was further noted that there were various cases lodged against Langa and with respect to Rs. 20 lakhs seized from his house, there were contradictory statements given by him, his wife and sister-in-law.

In November, 2024, a Sessions Court had granted anticipatory bail to Langa in the cheating FIR, which was registered on the complaint of an individual running an advertising agency. The Court had noted that the dispute between the parties was for non-payment of money which was "primarily civil in nature". It had also observed that the alleged cheating happened between March, 2024 and October, 2024 and the complainant did not explain the delay in filing of the complaint.

In the second FIR, Langa was granted anticipatory bail by the trial court in February, 2025. This FIR alleged that he extorted Rs. 40 lakhs from the complainant.

Case Title: MAHESHDAN PRABHUDAN LANGA Versus STATE OF GUJARAT AND ANR., SLP(Crl) No. 13743/2025

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