Delhi court labels Siddharth Khera a fugitive in ₹400-crore maritime fraud case

In a September 30 order, Judicial Magistrate First Class Deepakshi Rana declared Siddharth Khera an absconder after he did not attend court for 30 days, directing the police to lodge an FIR. The ruling comes a year after the Supreme Court permitted authorities to use diplomatic channels to seek Khera's deportation. Prosecutors allege that Khera and his father, Ajay Khera, misappropriated payments from Seagull Maritime Agencies Pvt Ltd, channeling them to Azure International LLC, where Siddharth and his wife Shruti Arora were directors.

Ajay Khera, a former executive director of the Central Warehousing Corporation, was arrested in 2022 and later granted bail. Siddharth Khera, who left Seagull's US branch in 2021, is believed to be residing in the United States, as noted by the Delhi High Court. Earlier, the high court rejected anticipatory bail requests from his mother Charu Khera and brother Aadhar Khera. The Economic Offences Wing initially filed the case in 2022 under multiple IPC sections, but the allegations have yet to be tested in trial.