India moves to ban commercial activities at US embassy

New Delhi: Stepping up the pressure in an escalating diplomatic fight, India asked the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi on Wednesday to stop commercial activities on its premises by Jan. 16, acting before the U.S. authorities are to decide whether to prosecute an Indian diplomat in New York City who was arrested in a visa fraud case.

Prosecutors have a Jan. 13 deadline to decide whether to go ahead with an indictment of Devyani Khobragade, the Indian deputy consul general in New York. Accounts of her arrest set off an angry backlash in India after she was held on charges that she fraudulently obtained a work visa for her housekeeper, forced her to work longer hours than agreed to and paid her far less than the minimum wage.

An Indian official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the ban on commercial activities at the U.S. Embassy involves shutting down a club with a restaurant, bar and parlor that sells imported liquor and other duty-free goods to diplomats. The goods were being supplied to nondiplomats against the rules, the official said.

"This is the violation of local tax laws and also the Vienna Convention," the official said.

The club at the embassy is a popular facility for Americans in New Delhi, and includes not only a bar and restaurant but also a swimming pool, a bowling alley, a tennis court and other facilities.

The Indian foreign secretary, Sujatha Singh, warned the U.S. ambassador, Nancy J. Powell, on Monday that the issue of the Indian diplomat's arrest needed to be resolved, Indian news media reported. Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, an official with the ministry, confirmed the meeting.

U.S. Embassy vehicles and diplomats' cars will also be subjected to more rigorous traffic enforcement, the news reports said.

Khobragade was arrested on Dec. 13. Criticism in India over her treatment centered on reports that she had been strip searched and cavity searched before being released on bond. Khobragade was subsequently transferred to a position at the United Nations that could provide her with diplomatic immunity.

The request to curtail commercial activities at the U.S. club came after Indian authorities withdrew other privileges enjoyed by U.S. diplomats, like access to special identity cards. Indian officials have also removed security barricades from the U.S. Embassy.

Syed Akbaruddin, a representative of India's ministry of external affairs, said: "Reciprocity is the basis on which diplomats work all over the world."

The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi declined to comment.