Devyani Khobragade shunted from MEA for her statements to media

NEW DELHI: Taking a serious view of her unauthorized statements in the media, MEA this week took administrative steps against Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade. She was stripped of her duties as director in the development partnership division of MEA and placed on "compulsory wait". This means she has no job, although she retains her post. Sources said she is likely to be the target of additional administrative action.

She was in the centre of a diplomatic storm between New Delhi and Washington this time last year.

The government has also taken a dim view of the fact that Khobragade failed to disclose that she had got US passports for her children. Her husband is a US citizen. A vigilance investigation is already under way against her on this count. It's unlikely she will be reinstated until a verdict on her investigation is reached.

Khobragade has been accused of ill-treating her domestic help in the US. The case, which was filed after a complaint by her maid, Sangeeta Richards, led to Khobragade being arrested and strip-searched by the New York police. It created a diplomatic storm in India with official and popular outrage against the treatment of an Indian diplomat.



This, sources said, did not take away from the government's own problems with Khobragade herself. While the allegations against her for purchase of property in scam-tainted Adarsh housing society in Mumbai has not yet been placed under official investigation (Khobragade maintains she has not broken any laws), the issue of her children's dual citizenship is a bigger problem for MEA, sources said.