Immunity complicates Indian diplomat's fraud indictment

An Indian diplomat accused of lying about how much she paid her housekeeper was ordered out of the United States yesterday after she was indicted on two criminal charges and Indian authorities refused to waive her immunity, authorities said.

Devyani Khobragade, who had been strip-searched when arrested, left the country by plane last night after being charged by a federal grand jury with visa fraud and making false statements in a case that has triggered an outcry in India, a senior U.S. official said. She's accused of fraudulently obtaining a work visa for her New York housekeeper.

A U.S. government official in Washington who wasn't authorized to speak about the case publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity said the United States accepted India's request to accredit her to the United Nations, which confers broader immunity than what she enjoyed as a consular official. It would be almost unprecedented for the United States to deny such a request unless the diplomat was a national security risk.

The United States asked the government of India to waive the immunity, but the Indians refused, so the United States then "requested her departure" from the country, the official said.

Khobragade's lawyer, David Arshack, said Khobragade was "pleased to be returning to her country."

"Her head is held high," Arshack said. "She knows she has done no wrong and she looks forward to assuring that the truth is known."

Authorities say Khobragade claimed to pay her Indian maid $4,500 per month but gave her far less than the U.S. minimum wage.

Her arrest last month sparked outrage in India after revelations that she was strip-searched and thrown in a cell with other criminal defendants before being released on $250,000 bail.

Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York, has maintained her innocence.

The charges will remain pending until she can be brought to court to face them, through a waiver of immunity or her return to the United States without immunity status, a letter from the office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.