New York:
Prabhu Dayal, the Indian Consul General in New York, has been accused of treating a former domestic help as a slave and making sexual advances, charges rejected by him as "complete nonsense".
(Read: Diplomat's lawyer refutes domestic help's allegations)Prabhu Dayal in an exclusive interview to NDTV said the maid lived like a family member.
"She said she was made to sleep in a storage closet. We are standing in the very room she occupied. It is a spacious room, it has wall to wall carpeting, it has an air conditioner, a television, central heating and all the furniture she would need. She lived like a member of the family," said Prabhu Dayal.
Santosh Bhardwaj, Mr Dayal's former maid, has filed a forced labour-suit against him for making her work for long hours every day at US $300 a month, confiscating her passport and making her sleep in a storage closet. She has also accused him of sexual advances.
"I filed the complaint because I want to be paid for all the labour I provided and for all the injustice I suffered - and I want my passport returned," Bhardwaj (45), the mother of four children, said. "The Dayals did not treat me fairly," she said in a statement issued by the Legal Aid Society, which is representing her.
Sources in the government say that while Ms Bhardwaj's complaint is being investigated, her story seems unreliable. They point out that she disappeared in January 2010 before she was meant to return to India, and has resurfaced after a year with these charges. Mr Dayal described her claims as "mischievous and malicious lies."
Ms Bhardwaj said she was lured to the US with a promise of an hourly pay of US $10 and overtime pay. Instead, she said her payment was less than US $1 an hour, and her passport was confiscated. She also alleged that on one occasion Mr Dayal told her she could only have the additional money if she gave him a "massage."
"Ms Bhardwaj interpreted this as a sexual advance and was deeply offended. After that incident, Ms Bhardwaj left the Dayals' home and did not return," said Legal Aid Society's statement on her case.
Mr Dayal rejected the accusation, saying, "No question. I never asked for a massage... I deny it outright... I don't need a massage... I'm fit."