Seagull Maritime Agencies Scammed of Over Rs 30 Crores: Accused Ajay Khera Granted Bail

The Delhi High Court has granted bail to legal consultant Ajay Khera, who was accused of diverting clients of his employer company, Seagull Maritime Agencies Private Limited, to his own company. Last year, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) unit of the Delhi Police arrested the 62-year-old for allegedly defrauding Seagull of over ₹30 crore.

Khera, a former executive director of the state-owned Central Warehousing Corporation, had incorporated two companies and started funnelling away payments originally made in the name of Seagull.

After voluntarily retiring from CWC, Khera joined World Window India Impex Private Limited as president. It was a group company of Seagull Maritime Agencies Private Limited, which deals in the freight forwarding business in India. It was alleged that the petitioner, who was previously an employee of a group company, had recommended his son for the position of business development manager at Seagull's USA branch. However, it was discovered that the petitioner (Ajay Khera) and his son had incorporated two companies, Azure Freight & Logistics LLP and Azure International LLC, which were taking away Seagull's clientele by misrepresentation and forgery.

Under the leadership of the petitioner (Ajay Khera) and his son, payments made by Seagull clients for shipments were allegedly funnelled into the accounts of Azure International LLC. The wrongful loss caused to Seagull was estimated to be approximately Rs. 30 crores. Accordingly, his son was appointed as business development manager at the US branch of Seagull. Resultantly, the annual revenue of Seagull dropped drastically from 2018 to its lowest in 2021.

During the investigation, it was revealed that Siddharth Khera, the petitioner's son, was the Director of Azure International LLC and had been employed by Seagull until 30th June 2021. The prosecution further alleged that former and present employees of the accused Azure were also actively involved in the conspiracy, using Seagull's IDs even after their resignation from the company.

The investigation also revealed that monies were dishonestly routed from the USA through Dubai to India, amounting to around Rs. 18 to 19 crores. In the charge-sheet, the names of accused persons namely Siddharth Khera, Charu Khera, Aadhar Khera, and Shruti Arora, and others who were allegedly employees and were clandestinely working for Azure, have been filed.

Ajay Khera had incorporated two companies – Azure Freight and Logistics LLP in November 2020 and Azure International LLC in June 2020. He also started a parallel business by taking away the clientele of Seagull through misrepresentation and forgery. The accused, in connivance with the employees of mother company Seagull forged many bills and invoices, to dishonestly funnel the payments made by the client of Seagull for shipments made by Seagull to the accounts of Azure International LLC.

The accused also allegedly changed the name of the shipper in the bills from Seagull to Azure despite those orders being fulfilled by Seagull.

Taking a compassionate view of the situation till the time of conviction and also in light of the evidence and arguments by both prosecution and defence counsel, the Delhi High Court found it to be a fit case for grant of bail to the petitioner. The trial is likely to take some time, and it would not be prudent to keep the petitioner behind bars for an indefinite period, the court observed. The petitioner has been directed to be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond in the sum of Rs. two lakhs.