The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday arrested journalist Mahesh Langa under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in connection with a case of cheating and criminal breach of trust. Langa has been in prison since October when he was arrested for his alleged involvement in a Goods and Service Tax-related scam.

At least seven cases have been filed against Langa, a journalist with The Hindu in Ahmedabad. These include five FIRs by the Gujarat Police and two cases by the Enforcement Directorate.

Langa was produced before a court in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, which remanded him to the agency’s custody till February 28. The Enforcement Directorate arrested the journalist from the city’s Sabarmati Central Jail, where he was in custody in connection with other cases.

The central agency filed its latest case against Langa based on a first information report filed by the Detection of Crime Branch Police Station in October, in which the journalist was accused of having cheated a businessman of Rs 28.68 lakh, The Indian Express reported.

The Enforcement Directorate said that during its investigation, it found that another first information report had been filed against Langa by the Satellite police station in Ahmedabad for allegedly committing fraud and causing wrongful losses. This case was based on allegations that he extorted Rs 40 lakh from a land broker.

Langa was first arrested by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch on October 7 in an 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.

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.

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