Diplomat row: US embassy paid for maid's family's air tickets

The United States embassy had paid for the air tickets for three family members of the absconding maid of senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade when they were "evacuated" from New Delhi to New York last week, it emerged on Monday.

The tickets for the maid's husband Philip Richard and their two children -- Jennifer and Jatin -- were issued by the official travel agency of the US embassy, sources said.

The tickets were exempt from service tax of 4.50 percent as per the norm for diplomatic missions, the sources said.