Indian Consular Official, Khobragade, Indicted by US

Devyani Khobragade’s counsel was refused an indictment extension today, with the result that the US issued the indictment alleging her visa fraud, something that both sides had been hoping to avoid by working out a settlement.

Ms Khobragade’s arrest and strip search by US marshals has caused outrage in India, and relations between the two countries are in danger of serious deterioration. She was arrested for having obtained a visa for an Indian servant by fraudulently promising to abide by US labour laws.

The Wall Street Journal has put the indictment online. It alleges a deliberate, calculated fraud, replete with two contracts, one showed to US officials to obtain a visa, and the other spelling out the actual arrangement between her and the servant. The indictment alleges that when the servant fled, Ms Khobragade, through her relatives, took steps in India to pressure the servant into not initiating actions against her, and she herself sued the servant on the “true” contract.

Readers might like to follow a version of the Indian view of this matter available in the various newspaper articles in The Hindu.