The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday described the indictment of diplomat Devyani Khobragade in the United States as a "defeat" for India, saying that the criminal case against her would remain in America.
The investigations into and actions being taken by the US State Department's Diplomatic Security Service against Devyani Khobragade were not shared with Secretary of State John F Kerry, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, or Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Nisha Desai Biswal, reveals Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa from Washington, DC.
Devyani Khobragade, the Indian diplomat who is at the centre of a diplomatic row with the United States, is one of the 25 allottees who have been found ineligible to own a flat in the controversial Adarsh Housing society by a judicial panel which probed the scam.
The Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, went into damage-control mode on Thursday following the arrest of Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York, in connection with an alleged fraudulent visa application for a domestic worker.
'It is my job to resolve the issue, and we are looking at all options,' Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid tells Sheela Bhatt.
Pakistan on Monday sided with India on the row over the treatment meted out to senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade in the United States and said such treatment should not be meted to any official of another country.
In a day of dramatic developments, the Indian diplomat is indicted on two charges, but she will leave the US. 'I will come out of this vindicated,' Dr Khobragade tells Rediff.com.
Devyani Khobragade's lawyer on Wednesday said the United States authorities goofed up in the investigation and arrest of the Indian diplomat on visa fraud charges as a federal agent made a "serious" mistake in reading the paperwork submitted regarding her maid's salary.
Sources said no final decision has been taken as yet and it is very possible that a high-level intervention might be required to take a final call on resolving the issue.
India on Friday expelled senior American diplomat within hours of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade being asked to leave the United States after her indictment in a visa fraud case for which she was arrested nearly a month ago, triggering strong reaction from the government here.
'While the Khobragade affair has "upset and diverted attention, it does not mean there is a fundamental flaw in the US-India relationship",' former American envoy Frank Wisner tells Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa.
India is making every attempt to ensure that the United States drops all charges against IFS officer Devyani Khobragade.
Ignoring the United States viewpoint, India has refused to consider the Devyani Khobragade episode as "closed", saying there are "residual" issues which need to be addressed.
Showing no signs of yielding to India's demand, the United States on Saturday said that Devyani Khobragade's transfer to India's Permanent Mission at the United Nations will not give her diplomatic immunity retroactively and the visa fraud case against her would remain.
India-born US prosecutor Preet Bharara has told a New York judge that his office is opposed to the one-month extension of the deadline for charging Devyani Khobragade in a visa fraud case as sought by her, saying plea discussions can continue even after she is charged.
The lawyer for a domestic help employed by Devyani Khobragade on Thursday said it is frustrating and disappointing that the focus in the case has shifted from the crimes that were committed against her client to the Indian diplomat.
Devyani Khobragade's maid Sangeeta Richard, in her first public statement, has thanked those who supported her in fight for justice.
India has informed the United States that Devyani Khobragade was accredited to the United Nations as a member of the country's delegation to the general assembly before her arrest in a visa fraud case.
There is no chance of the case against Devyani Khobaragade being dropped, but a plea deal is possible, which could avoid a jail term for the Indian diplomat, sources in the US government tell Rediff.com's George Joseph in New York.
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The case of Devyani Khobragade, a top Indian diplomat accused of fraud by her domestic help, is the third instance where maids working for diplomats at the Indian consulate General in New York have complained against their employers.
India on Thursday said the case against its diplomat Devyani Khobragade, arrested in New York on charges of visa fraud, should not be pursued and withdrawn by the US authorities.
'How can Devyani sitting in New York and I in Mumbai arm-twist the maid's family?' Uttam Khobragade challenges Preet Bharara's version of events in this interview to Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore.
Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade has asked a court in New York to dismiss the indictment against her and terminate any 'open' arrest warrants in the visa fraud case, arguing that she was 'cloaked' in diplomatic immunity and cannot face criminal prosecution in the United States
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid today met his United States counterpart John Kerry in Montreux for the first time after a row over the arrest of an Indian diplomat as they committed to move forward bilateral ties and return to close partnerships on strategic issues.
A New York court has refused to grant relief to Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade on the ground that adjournment of the date when she has to be indicted will not grant her the "relief she seeks" regarding plea negotiations between her and the government to resolve the visa fraud case.
Reflecting anger in the government, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon on Tuesday termed as "despicable" and "barbaric" the treatment meted out to India's Deputy Consul General Devyani Khobragade in New York.
The State Department says it informed the Indian embassy in Washington, DC in Deptember about the troubles that awaited diplomat Devyani Khobragade, who was arrested on the charges of alleged fraud in New York on December 12. A media statement issued by M Sridharan, the Counsellor (Press, Information and Culture), at the embassy clarifies the sequence of events.
Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade has requested a court here to extend the deadline for charging her in a visa fraud case, saying the "pressure of the impending" deadline is interfering with the ability of the parties to have meaningful discussions on the issue.
Left workers and others on Thursday held a protest at the US Consulate over the ill-treatment meted out to Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York.
The external affairs ministry on Friday did not rule out any further disciplinary action against senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade, who had hit the headlines last year after being arrested in the US in a visa fraud case.
Unfazed by the outrage over the arrest and subsequent treatment of senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, the India-born US prosecutor Preet Bharara defended the action against her and confirmed that her maid's family has been "evacuated" from India.
A group of community leaders met Dr Devyani Khobragade on Monday at the Indian consulate in New York and offered the support of the people.
The three artifacts date back to the 11th and 12th century AD and were stolen from temples in India which were recovered by US investigators. The repatriation ceremony at the New York consulate witnessed a guarded silence over the Devyani Khobragade controversy. Rediff.com's P Rajendran and Suman Guha Mozumder report from New York.
Terming the Khobragade episode "extremely irksome", Union External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Sunday said it was time there should be a "closure" to the issue for which the US should find a "political solution".
'Dr Khobragade is now a Counsellor without any specific work responsibility at the PMI. There is not going to be any work for her at the mission at least for now. This is an interim measure to help her so she can get diplomatic immunity and get over this situation.'
In further retaliatory steps over the arrest of diplomat Devyani Khobragade, India has asked the United States to "discontinue" commercial activities being undertaken from its embassy premises in New Delhi by January 16.
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.
India tried to work out a legal solution, but that has not been possible. The final outcome thus is not the best one, but the optimal solution to a sub-optimal case, reports Sheela Bhatt.
India on Tuesday said it has taken "very seriously" the treatment meted out to its Deputy Consul General in New York Devyani Khobragade by the United States authorities and that it has "put in motion" the process to deal with the issue in an "effective way".
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