foxnews | U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who made the highly unusual move Wednesday of issuing a lengthy statement
addressing the arrest and issues not in a criminal complaint, said
diplomat Devyani Khobragade was afforded courtesies most Americans
wouldn't get — such as being allowed to make phone calls for two hours
to arrange child care and sort out personal matters — after she was
discreetly arrested by State Department agents outside her children's
Manhattan school.
Khobragade was arrested last week on charges she lied on a visa
application about how much she paid her housekeeper, an Indian national.
Prosecutors say the maid received less than $3 per hour for her work.
Bharara said Khobragade, who has pleaded not guilty, wasn't
handcuffed, restrained or arrested in front of her children. And he said
that while she was "fully searched" in private by a female deputy
marshal, the move was a standard safety practice all defendants undergo.
Khobragade has been transferred to India's mission to the United
Nations, according to her lawyer and a former colleague. It's unclear
how such a move might affect her immunity from prosecution, and a U.N.
spokesman said it hadn't received a necessary transfer request from her
Wednesday evening.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told reporters on Thursday
that Khobragade should never have been arrested, and that the
housekeeper should have been arrested instead.
Khurshid said he would speak to Kerry later Thursday.
"This is an extremely distressing and hurtful incident that needs to be addressed," he said.
Earlier Thursday, an official in India's External Affairs Ministry
told the Associated Press that Khobragade claimed to Indian authorities
in July that the maid had disappeared and was trying to blackmail her.
According to the official, the housekeeper said she would not report
Khobragade if she agreed to pay her more money and change her visa
status to allow her to work elsewhere in the U.S.
Khobragade filed a complaint with New York police and New Delhi
police, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he
is not authorized to speak publicly. It was not clear what action was
taken in the U.S., but New Delhi police issued a warrant for her arrest
if she returned to India.
News that Khobragade was strip-searched has chilled U.S.-Indian
relations, and Kerry called India's national security adviser on
Wednesday to express his regret over what happened. India has revoked
privileges for U.S. diplomats in protest.
Bharara, who was born in India but moved with his family to New Jersey, defended his case.
