Confidential document theft: Gujarat High Court rejects Mahesh Langa plea to quash FIR

The Gujarat High Court on February 17 dismissed a plea filed by journalist Mahesh Langa seeking quashing of a case filed against him for allegedly stealing highly sensitive and confidential documents belonging to Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB)..A Bench of Justice Divyesh A Joshi dismissed Langa's plea after observing that a prima facie case was made out against him."...in the instant case, from the material collected by the investigating officer during the course of investigation, prima facie involvement of the petitioner in commission of crime is made out. Moreover, the investigation is at a nascent stage and it would not be proper on the part of this Court to exercise its inherent powers in favour of the petitioner at this stage. In view of the aforesaid discussion, the petition being devoid of merits, stands dismissed. Notice discharged.".The case involves allegations of leaked sensitive documents from the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB). The prosecution claimed that confidential documents were seized from Langa, a journalist with The Hindu, leading to the lodging of the present first information report (FIR).Langa was booked for criminal breach of trust, theft by the clerk, and other offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, as well as the Prevention of Corruption Act.Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Langa, argued that his client was not initially named in the FIR and was arrested based on assumptions. He contended Langa is neither a GMB employee nor directly involved in the alleged crime. He further submitted that till date except the petitioner no responsible officer of GMB has been arrested by the investigating officer concerned which showed the oblique motive in arresting Langa.Sibal also highlighted the absence of Official Secrets Act proceedings and questioned the applicability of the Prevention of Corruption Act. He said that if the documents recovered were highly sensitive in nature, then proceedings under the provisions of the Official Secrets Act should have been instituted but such proceedings have not been instituted by the complainant, which clearly showed that the sole intention of the FIR was to harass the petitioner.He, therefore, sought quashing of the FIR..The State, represented by Additional Advocate General Mitesh Amin strongly opposed the petition. He argued that during the investigation of another FIR, confidential and highly sensitive documents belonging to GMB were recovered from the petitioner’s premises. This led to an internal inquiry by GMB, which concluded that the documents were stolen, possibly with the help of an insider, resulting in the present FIR against the petitioner and an unidentified GMB employee.Amin further emphasized that the investigation is still at an early stage, and the petitioner is already in custody for other offences. He contended that an FIR serves to initiate the investigative process and is not expected to contain all details. Given the prima facie evidence of the petitioner’s involvement, he urged the Court to allow the investigation to proceed without interference..After hearing both sides, the Court noted that during the investigation of another FIR, a search at the petitioner’s premises led to the recovery of highly sensitive and confidential documents belonging to the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB). Since a prima facie case was established, and the investigation was ongoing, the Court declined to interfere at this stage. Thereby, the plea was dismissed."it is well settled that the inherent power of the court under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure should be exercised sparingly and cautiously. The Court should exercise its inherent powers under Section 482 of the Code only when it comes to the conclusion that there would be manifest injustice or there would be abuse of the process of the court, if such power is not exercised," the Court observed.Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal along with Advocates AJ Yagnik and Vedant J Rajguru appeared for Langa.AAG Mitesh Amin along with APP Manan Mehta and Advocate Simranjit Singh Virk appeared for the respondent..[Read Order]