New Delhi: Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade accused of lying about how much she paid her housekeeper was indicted on Thursday on two criminal charges.
Devyani lawyers confirmed that Devyani is returning to India.
Khobragade left New York for India on Thursday after she was granted diplomatic immunity.
The indictment said Khobragade had made multiple false representations to US authorities, or caused them to be made, to obtain a visa for a personal domestic worker.
Khobragade has maintained her innocence in the face of accusations and has said all charges against her are false and baseless.
Earlier, Khobragade on Thursday was indicted for visa fraud and making false statements but she was allowed to eave the US as she had been accorded diplomatic immunity.
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, US Attorney Preet Bharara said in a letter to District Judge Shira Scheindlin.
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.
“There will not need to be an arraignment on the Indictment scheduled at this time. We understand that the defendant was very recently accorded diplomatic immunity status,” Bharara said in his letter.
“Therefore, the charges will remain pending until such time as she can be brought to Court to face the charges, either through a waiver of immunity or the defendant's return to the United States in a non-immune status.
"The time between now and the time that she is able to be brought before the Court is excluded automatically under the Speedy Trial Act, pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section 3161(h)(3)(A), which provides for the exclusion of any period of delay resulting from the unavailability of the defendant,” he said.
When contacted, Khobragade told PTI, “I will show my immunity to the court. The court will see that I have diplomatic immunity. Only then will I leave the US.” 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 USD 250,000 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.
In Delhi, the spokesperson of External Affairs Ministry Syed Akbaruddin said, Devyani Khobragade has expressed her gratitude to the Indian government, particularly the External Affairs Minister, the people of India and the media for their strong and sustained support.
She expressed her determination that the episode will not have a lasting impact on her family, particularly her children, who are still in the United States.
