New York:
Senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade was today indicted for visa fraud and making false statements but can leave the US as she has 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 $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.
"The Government respectfully writes to advise the Court that earlier today, the grand jury voted on and returned the enclosed Indictment charging Devyani Khobragade, the defendant, in two counts with visa fraud and making false statements in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1546, 1001, and 2," Bharara said.
"In this case, the defendant is unavailable because her 'whereabouts are known but [her] presence for trial cannot be obtained by due diligence or [she] resists appearing at or being returned for trial'," he said.
Bharara made it clear that Khobragade will be prosecuted if she returns to the US without diplomatic immunity.
"We will alert the Court promptly if we learn that the defendant returns to the United States in a non-immune capacity, at which time the Government will proceed to prosecute this case and prove the charges in the Indictment," he added.
After the row broke out, Khobragade was transferred to India's Permanent Mission to the UN. Following her arrest, her passport was kept in court's custody.