Who is Ro Khanna's wife Ritu Ahuja? 5 things to know about the California congressman's family

Here's everything to know about Ritu Ahuja, wife of Congressman Ro Khanna, who was recently detained by Israeli settlers in Palestine.

Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna, a 2028 US Presidential aspirant, said on Saturday, July 11 that he was detained by gun-wielding Israeli settlers during a visit to Palestine. As the news brings attention to Khanna, here's a look at his wife, Ritu Ahuja Khanna.

Ritu Ahuja is the wife of Congressman Ro Khanna and a former Bulgari marketing specialist. (Ro Khanna official website)

Who is Ritu Khanna?

Ritu Ahuja and Rohit (Ro) Khanna were married in Cleveland, with Pandit Ashok Bhargava officiating the ceremony at Severance Hall, home of the Cleveland Orchestra, according to a 2015 report by The New York Times.

Until April 2015, Mrs Khanna, then 36, worked as a product marketing specialist in New York for Bulgari, the Italian jewelry and accessories company.

Here are 5 things to know about her:

1. She graduated from Georgetown University and later received a master's degree in strategic communications from Columbia University.
2. She is the daughter of Usha Ahuja and Monte Ahuja of Hunting Valley, Ohio.
3. Her father Monte Ahuja, is the chairman of Mura Holdings, an investment firm and chief executive of Transmaxx, an automotive transmission parts supplier, both based in Solon, Ohio.
4. She worked as a product marketing specialist for Bulgari in New York before her marriage.
5. She and Ro Khanna call Fremont, California, home, and together they have two young children.

Ro Khanna's detention in Palestine

Khanna, a Democrat from California, was visiting the ruins of Khirbet Zanuta, a Bedouin village in the southern West Bank that was abandoned after attacks from Israeli settlers, on Wednesday, July 8 when the incident took place.

A car of armed men blocked the road out of the village, taunting Khanna and his team and swearing at them in Hebrew and Arabic, according to The New York Times. When Israeli military vehicles arrived, Khanna assumed the soldiers were there to help him pass but instead the soldiers spoke with the settlers and after the settlers left, blocked the road themselves. He was eventually allowed to leave after calls to the US embassy and Israeli police

“Israeli settlers, brandishing American-made M4S, detained me and other Americans on my trip to Palestine. When the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) arrived, they sided with the settlers and continued our detention. They made a huge mistake,” Khanna said in a post on X.

He also told The New York Times, “I felt powerless in that situation, which is not an easy thing, as I have a lot of privilege in life. Imagine how people feel every day, Palestinians under the occupation, if they could make an American congressperson feel powerless for 90 minutes.”