Journalist Mahesh Langa, who is in jail in connection with cases of alleged fraud, has been booked in a fresh matter by the Ahmedabad City Police for allegedly extorting Rs 40 lakh from a land broker, PTI reported on Friday.

The first information report, filed at the Satellite police station in the city, was based on a complaint by 32-year-old land broker Janak Arjun Thakor based in Daskroi area, The Indian Express reported.

This is the fifth FIR and the sixth investigation against Langa, a journalist with The Hindu in Ahmedabad.

In the latest case, Police Inspector HC Zala told PTI that Langa has been booked on Thursday under a section of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita that pertains to extortion. Further action will be taken after investigation, Zala said.

Over a period of time, before he was arrested, Langa allegedly extorted a total of Rs 40 lakh by threatening Thakor with causing him financial losses in his land-brokering business “due to his influence” and publishing false newspaper articles against him to defame him, according to the FIR.

Thakor claimed that he did not take legal action against Langa earlier fearing that his reputation would be tarnished but decided to file the complaint after he became aware of other cases against the journalist.

He was arrested by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch on October 7 in the alleged Goods and Services Tax-related fraud. The police alleged that a company named Dhruvi Enterprise created six firms from a single Permanent Account Number to fraudulently receive input tax credit. One of the companies named in the FIR is DA Enterprise.

The Gujarat High Court granted Langa bail in the case on January 9 but he is in judicial custody in connection with another related case.

On October 22, the police registered the second case against Langa for allegedly possessing confidential government documents pertaining to the Gujarat Maritime Board. The documents were recovered from him during his arrest in the first case.

Press bodies have urged the police to withdraw the case against Langa for the alleged possession of confidential government documents.

On October 29, Langa was booked on charges of allegedly cheating a businessman in Ahmedabad.

The complainant, Pranay Shah, who runs an advertising firm, alleged that Langa had offered to help publish “positive news” about him by leveraging his political and bureaucratic contacts.

On the same day, the Ahmedabad Zonal Office of the Enforcement Directorate announced it had filed a money-laundering case against Langa and others.

On November 27, a second first information report was registered in Rajkot in the same Goods and Services Tax-related fraud case he has now been granted bail in.

The Rajkot Crime Branch had filed the FIR against the owners of 14 firms, including DA Enterprise. The action came on a complaint by Jay Prakash Singh, the superintendent of the Central Goods and Services Tax office in Rajkot.

Singh alleged that the firms availed of input tax credits using fake bills and documents, which resulted in a loss of Rs 61.3 lakh to the government.

While Langa has not been named in the FIR, it is alleged that he operated DA Enterprise. The firm is owned by Mahesh Langa’s cousin Manoj Langa. The journalist’s wife is a silent partner in the firm and has no rights to conduct transactions or access bank accounts, it is alleged.

Manoj Langa had earlier allegedly claimed that he was instructed by Mahesh Langa to carry out fraudulent transactions.