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.