The Indian diplomat booted from the United States after being enmeshed in the Nannygate scandal filed legal papers on Tuesday seeking to dismiss the criminal charges against her, so she could return to New York and be with her husband and their children.
Through her lawyer, Devyani Khobragade argued that the federal charges of the diplomat keeping her Manhattan housekeeper in virtual servitude should be tossed because she’s protected from prosecution by diplomatic immunity granted by the State Department last week.
“It is difficult for her not to be with her family as it would be for anyone,” her lawyer, Daniel Arshack, told the Post. “She’d like the ability to return without being prosecuted.”
After flying back to India on Friday, Khobragade griped to India’s Sunday Express newspaper that she’s suffering “immense stress” at being separated from her husband and two daughters, ages 7 and 4, who all remain in the United States.
Khobragade’s hubby, Aakash Singh Rathore, is a New York-born US citizen who teaches philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania.
Khobragade, 39, jetted out of New York after being granted diplomatic immunity just as a Manhattan federal-court indictment was announced charging her with visa fraud and making false statements.
“Obviously, the government knew when it obtained that indictment that there could be no prosecution of Dr. Khobragade since her diplomatic status had already been changed and she was therefore immune from prosecution,” Arshack said in the legal filing.
If Judge Shira Scheindlin dismisses the indictment, it would allow Khobragade to travel freely to and from America.
The women’s-rights champion, who served as deputy consul general for political, economic, commercial and women’s affairs, is accused of lying on official documents that claimed she was paying her female housekeeper $4,500 a month.
In reality, the feds say Khobragade forced Indian national Sangeeta Richard to work 100 or more hours a week, with no day off, for just $573 a month — or as little as $1.22 an hour.
Despite ordering her to leave America, the feds have said the indictment against Khobragade remains pending, and that she could face arrest if she tries to re-enter the country.
Khobragade’s December arrest and strip search inflamed relations between India and the US, and the American government has agreed to withdraw an official from its embassy in New Delhi in a bid to defuse the tensions.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan, which indicted Khobragade, declined comment.