Fired US prosecutor Bharara had build case against diplomat Khobragade

NEW DELHI: Indian-origin Preet Bharara, the high-profile US federal prosecutor who was fired on Saturday, made headlines here starting in late 2013 when he charged diplomat Devyani Khobragade with visa fraud and misrepresentation in a case involving her housekeeper Sangeeta Richard.

It’s not known immediately how Bharara’s exit will affect the case he filed against her.

Khobragade, then the Deputy Consul General of the Consulate General of India in New York, was charged by US authorities on December 11, 2013, with committing visa fraud and providing false statements to enable entry for Richard, an Indian, for employment as her domestic help in New York. She was additionally charged with failing to pay her the minimum wage.


Khobragade was arrested the next day, subjected to a body-cavity search, presented to a judge and released the same day. Her arrest and treatment received media attention, especially in India, and led to a diplomatic standoff.

Although Khobragade left the US in January 2014 after getting transferred to India’s UN mission in New York and obtaining full diplomatic immunity, she was indicted by a federal grand jury with visa fraud and making false statements.

On March 12, 2014, Judge Shira Scheindlin ordered that all charges against Khobragade be dismissed because she had diplomatic immunity at the time of her indictment.

However, two days later, Bharara reindicted Khobragade on the same charges and issued an arrest warrant for her, preventing her from travelling to the US, where her husband and children are based.

Bharara claims President Donald Trump wanted him to stay on the job. US media reports said the president’s chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions wanted a new set of federal prosecutors. He refused to submit a letter of resignation as part of plan to replace all US attorneys.