Senior Indian Diplomat in US Devyani Khobragade has left for India. She was yesterday indicted for visa fraud and making false statements but permitted to leave the US as she was accorded diplomatic immunity. In a letter to New York District Judge Shira Scheindlin, US Attorney Preet Bharara said that the charges against 39-year-old Khobragade will remain and she will have to face trial, if she returns to the US without diplomatic immunity. Bharara said the grand jury has indicted the diplomat on two counts of visa fraud and making false statements in connection with the visa application of her domestic help Sangeeta Richard.
While boarding the plane back to India, Devyani said in New York that the charges against her are false and baseless and she looks forward to proving them wrong. She also affirmed her determination to ensure that this episode does not leave a lasting imprint on her family, in particular her children who are still in the US.
Khobragade was granted full diplomatic immunity on January 8 under the India-US Headquarters agreement. On January 9, the US request for waiver of diplomatic immunity to Khobragade was refused by India.
A 1999-batch IFS officer, Khobragade, was arrested on December 12 on charges of making false declarations in a visa application for her maid. She was released on a 250,000 dollars bond. The diplomat was strip searched and held with criminals, triggering a row between the two sides with India retaliating by downgrading privileges of certain category of US diplomats.
Devyani Khobragade has left for India. While boarding the plane back to India, she said that the charges against her are false and baseless and she looksforward to proving them wrong. She also affirmed her determination to ensure that this episode does not leave a lasting imprint on her family, in particular her children who are still in the US.
Khobragade was granted full diplomatic immunity on January 8 under the India-US Headquarters agreement.
On January 9, the US request for waiver of diplomatic immunity to Khobragade was refused by India.
