US Secretary of State John Kerry planned to speak again to his counterpart in India Thursday to quell the growing international furor over the arrest of a female Indian diplomat who was strip-searched while in custody.
Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid angrily demanded that US authorities drop the case against Devyani Khobragade, 39, India’s deputy consul general in New York, charging she was the victim of a blackmail plot by her housekeeper.
Khurshid claimed the housekeeper, Indian national Sangeeta Richard, had threatened last summer to go to the cops unless Khobragade arranged a new passport and work visa for her, along with a large chunk of cash.
Khobragade had notified authorities in New York and Delhi over the summer that she was being blackmailed, and the Delhi police launched a case against the woman, Indian officials said.
The NYPD did not immediately respond to a question about whether they were contacted by the diplomat.
“This is an extremely distressing and hurtful incident that needs to be addressed,” Khurshid said about his expected conversation with Kerry. “We hope our concerns will be addressed. And if the US has any concerns that we need to address, we will examine them.”
The minister did not say how much money the housekeeper allegedly demanded, but two top Indian officials contended she asked for $10,000 in the presence of a lawyer and two other witnesses.
The stylish diplomat – considered a champion of women’s rights in her homeland – is accused of submitting phony paperwork to get a work visa for Richard.
Federal prosecutors say Khobragade claimed on the visa documents that she paid Richard $4,500 a month, but actually paid her about $3 an hour – far less than half of New York’s $7.25 minimum wage, which will increase to $8 on Dec. 31.
Khobragade threw gasoline on the fire that erupted following her arrest with an emotional email to colleagues describing what she said was her unduly harsh treatment.
“I must admit that I broke down many times as the indignities of repeated handcuffing, stripping and cavity searches, swabbing, in a hold-up with common criminals and drug addicts were all being imposed upon me despite my incessant assertions of immunity,” she said in the email.
But US Attorney Preet Bharara – a native of India – defended her treatment following her arrest by State Department agents outside her children’s Manhattan school on Dec. 12 in an unusually lengthy statement released Wednesday.
“Ms. Khobragade was accorded courtesies well beyond what other defendants, most of whom are American citizens, are accorded. She was not, as has been incorrectly reported, arrested in front of her children. The agents arrested her in the most discreet way possible, and unlike most defendants, she was not then handcuffed or restrained,” he said.
The federal prosecutor said she was allowed to keep her cell phone to arrange personal matters, and that State Department agents even let her sit in their car because it was cold, and brought her food and hot coffee.
Bharara confirmed she was strip searched once she was turned over to US Marshals, but defended the procedure as normal.
“It is true that she was fully searched by a female Deputy Marshal — in a private setting — when she was brought into the US Marshals’ custody, but this is standard practice for every defendant, rich or poor, American or not, in order to make sure that no prisoner keeps anything on his person that could harm anyone, including himself,” he wrote.
But the touchy case has chilled US-Indian relations, and India has revoked privileges for US diplomats in protest – denying them access to duty-free food and booze, among other measures.
Kerry called India’s National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon on Wednesday to express his regret over what happened, according to a statement from the State Department.
“As a father of two daughters about the same age as Devyani Khobragade, the Secretary empathizes with the sensitivities we are hearing from India about the events that unfolded after Ms. Khobragade’s arrest, and in his conversation with National Security Advisor Menon he expressed his regret, as well as his concern that we not allow this unfortunate public issue to hurt our close and vital relationship with India,” the statement read.
But Indian officials were far from mollified.
Khurshid said Bharara ignored the legal case that was already under way in India over the blackmail allegations against the housekeeper.
“When the legal process in another friendly and democratic country is interfered with in this manner, it not only amounts to interference, but also raises the serious concern of calling into question the very legal system of that country,” said Syed Akbaruddin, a spokesman for the External Affairs Ministry, India’s equivalent to the State Department.
The case has sparked widespread outrage in India, where the idea of an educated, middle-class woman facing a strip-search is almost unheard of.
Khobragade could face a maximum sentence of 10 years behind bars for visa fraud and five years for making a false declaration if convicted.
She is free on $250,000 bail, and while Indian officials say they want her returned home, her lawyer, Daniel Arshack, said he expects her to remain in the US to fight the charges.
Arshack on Thursday blasted her arrest.
“There was simply no reason to have arrested her on the street in front of her daughter’s school nor to have strip searched her. Similarly situated individuals of her stature are routinely provided an opportunity to report to the authorities to address charges, at their convenience, instead of being swept off the street like a common criminal,” Arshack told The Post in a statement.
He argued she should have been protected by her status as a diplomat and urged US and Indian officials to quickly resolve the dispute.
Indian officials argued she has full diplomatic immunity following her transfer this week to the country’s permanent mission to the UN.
But US officials dispute that, saying her immunity is limited to acts performed in the exercise of consular functions, and that full immunity would need the State Department’s OK.
India’s retaliation against American diplomats also included demanding to know the salaries paid to Indian staff in US Embassy households, and removing concrete security barriers around the US Embassy in New Delhi.