Former top Central Warehousing Corporation official arrested
New Delhi, September 28 (IANS): The Economic Crimes Wing of the Delhi Police has arrested a senior retired government official on charges of cheating and embezzlement worth around Rs 30 crore, a senior Delhi police officer said on Wednesday.
The accused, identified as Ajay Khera, retired from the position of Executive Director (Commercial) of Central Warehousing Corporation.
For further details, Special Police Commissioner Ravinder Kumar Yadav said the plaintiff in this case is the Director of Seagull Maritime Agencies Pvt. Ltd., which deals in freight forwarding in India and had opened a branch in the United States in 2010.
“Defendant (ex-employee of Group Company) who worked with the company as a legal consultant, asked the ex-promoters of Seagull to employ his alleged son Siddharth Khera to look after the American branch of Seagull “, said the special PC.
As a result, the alleged Siddharth Khera was appointed Business Development Manager of Seagull’s US branch. However, it has been noticed that Seagull’s annual revenue has steadily declined from the highs of 2018 to the severe low of July 2021.
“It has been revealed that alleged individuals incorporated two companies, namely Azure Freight & Logistics LLP (November 2020) and Azure International LLC (June 2020) and started parallel activities by removing Seagull’s customer base through false statements and tampering,” the senior official said.
According to the police, the defendants, in collusion with Seagull employees, falsified bills of lading, invoices, etc., and dishonestly misappropriated payments made by Seagull’s customer for shipments made by Seagull to the accounts of Seagull. ‘Azure International LLC.
Police say the defendant also made false statements to Seagull customers that Azure was one of Seagull’s group companies and obtained orders from Seagull customers.
They even changed the name of the sender in the landing letters from Seagull to Azure despite the obligations of such an order carried out by Seagull. Upon their resignation, the alleged individuals also replaced the original hard drives in their computers.
“The defendant caused an unjustified loss of Rs 30 crore or more to the plaintiff company and an unjustified gain to himself,” the official said.
As a result, after preliminary investigation, the police registered an FIR under several relevant sections of the Economic Crimes Wing Police Station Act.
A team, led by Joint CP Chhaya Sharma, was formed which arrested the accused Khera and took him into custody on 22 September.
