Devyani Khobragade reinstated as director in MEA's state division

New Delhi: Devyani Khobragade, the 1999-batch IFS officer whose arrest and handcuffing in New York in 2013 over alleged visa fraud led to souring in India-US ties, has been reinstated as director in the ministry of external affairs, a few months after she was stripped of her duties and placed on “compulsory wait”. Khobragade has been made director in the ministry’s States division since February, said sources. [caption id=“attachment_2324768” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Devyani Khobragade. Ibnlive[/caption] Khobragade was stripped of her responsibilities with the ministry in December last year after she gave interviews to the media in which she termed a vigilance inquiry against her as unfair. The vigilance case against Khobragade was on charges that she failed to disclose that her husband was a US citizen and that she has got US passports for her two children. The then Indian consul general was arrested in New York in 2013 on charges of ill-treating her domestic help Sangeeta Richards and visa fraud. She denied the charges and returned to India. However, the US still has not withdrawn the allegations against her. Her hand-cuffing and strip search by the New York Police led to a diplomatic stand-off with the US. IANS