New Delhi: Angered by the arrest of an Indian diplomat in the US on visa fraud charges, foreign secretary Sujatha Singh registered India’s strong protest with American ambassador Nancy Powell after summoning her to the South Block on Friday.
Devyani Khobragade, who is India’s deputy consul general in New York, was arrested for allegedly making false statements in a visa application for an Indian national she had employed as a housekeeper.
Diplomat was handcuffed in public; faces 10-yr jail
The arrest and handcuffing of Devyani Khobragade, an Indian diplomat in the US, by law enforcement officers soon after she had dropped off her daughter at school in New York, has caused diplomatic embarrassment.
Ms Khobragade was released on a bail bond of $250,000 on Friday after she was produced before US judge Debra Freeman in a Manhattan federal court. Charged with one count each of visa fraud and making false statements which could invite prison terms of 10 and five years, respectively, the diplomat has been asked to surrender her diplomatic passport.
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According to agency reports, Ms Khobragade did not speak at her hearing but to say that she agreed with the terms and conditions of her bail.
The charges of visa fraud against Ms Khobragade were announced by India-born US attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara. The 11-page criminal complaint against Ms Khobragade accuses her of making false statements about both the salary and employment terms of the woman she had hired from India, Sangeeta Richards.
Richards herself is learnt to have been absconding since June. The Indian government had revoked her passport and none here seem to know her whereabouts.
Next: It’s racial bias, says Diplomat’s dad
It’s racial bias: Diplomat’s dad
Mumbai: The father of an Indian woman diplomat arrested on visa fraud charges in New York and later released on a bond on Friday said the incident smacked of “racial bias” and sought an apology from law enforcing agencies.
Uttam Khobragade, father of Devyani Khobragade, also claimed that it was a clear case of “conspiracy” to harass his daughter and damage the reputation of the Indian government.
“It is nothing but a racial bias. It is simple and clear racial bias to harass the Indians,” he said. He requested the Indian government not to take the matter lightly.
India-born Preet Bharara, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, has accused Ms Khobragade of making false statements in a visa application for an Indian national employed as a babysitter and housekeeper at her New York home.
This is the third case involving a senior official of the New York Indian Consulate in three years. The first was in June 2011, when a former housekeeper sued India’s then consul general in New York Prabhu Dayal accusing him of intimidating her into a year of forced labour.
