US grand jury charged Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade for visa-fraud on Thursday and has asked her to leave US. 39-year-old diplomat is on her way back to India.
India's external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said that "Devyani Khobragade has been given G1 visa with full diplomatic immunity Jan 8".
The decision has come nearly a month after her arrest and strip-search.
Uttam Khobragade, her father, thanked the Indian government for his daughter's return. He said, "It is only because of the entire Indian government's effort, my daughter is returning to India with full diplomatic immunity".
"Our family has gone through a bad phase during this time and it will be a very important day for our entire family, as we will re-unite once again," he added.
The External Affairs Ministry further released a statement that read, "Khobragade, counselor at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in New York, was accorded Jan 8, 2014 the privileges and immunities of a diplomatic envoy...At the same time, the US government requested the government of India to waive the immunity of Counselor Khobragade."
"On Jan 9, 2014, the government of India declined to do so and transferred Counselor Khobragade to the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi."
In a statement issued after the hearing, her lawyer Daniel Arshack said, "Khobragade is pleased to be returning to her country. Her head is held high. She knows she has done no wrong and she looks forward to assuring that the truth is known".
"Khobragade denies the baseless charges brought by the prosecutor's office in New York and looks forward to providing the proof that over and over the investigators and prosecutors in this case have been sloppy and wrong. Khobragade did not make any false statements and she paid her domestic worker what she was entitled to be paid."
"Although the domestic (Sangeeta Richard) came to work here on a short-term contract which required her to return to India at the end of her employment, as a result of the false claims and shoddy investigation, she and her family now enjoy permanent residency in the US. The investigators in this case made serious errors as result of not fully investigating the facts. We look forward to providing the evidence of their blunders," the statement said.
India-born Manhattan Attorney Preet Bharara said the charges against Khobragade would remain pending until she can be brought to court to face them, either through a waiver of immunity or her return to the US without immunity status.
"We will alert the court promptly if we learn that the defendant returns to the United States in a non-immune capacity, at which time the government will proceed to prosecute this case and prove the charges in the indictment," he said in a letter to the court.
Khobragade's handcuffing and strip-search Dec 12 for alleged visa fraud and underpaying her child's nanny Sangeeta Richard sparked protests in India. During the time of her arrest, Devyani was India's deputy consul general in New York. Delhi ordered a series of diplomatic reprisal measures against the US, and relations between the two countries have been strained over the case.
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