IFS officer Devyani Khobragade meets PMO officials to discuss appeal against her in US

Former Deputy Consul-General of India in New York and IFS officer Devyani Khobragade on Friday met Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) officials to discuss her appeal against her indictment in the US for alleged visa fraud. [caption id=“attachment_2314788” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Devyani Khobragade. PTI[/caption] Sources told IBNLive that diplomatic negotiations are going on to resolve the issue. The report also said that the MEA is taking the case forward slowly until US prosecutor Preet Bharara demits office. Khobragade, an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, had been arrested on charges of making false declarations in a visa application for her maid, Sangeeta Richard, and had been later released on a $250,000 bond. The issue had escalated into a full-blown diplomatic row between US and India, which had retaliated by downgrading the privileges of certain category of US diplomats, among other steps. In May, the Delhi High Court had stayed a government order revoking Indian passports of the daughters of Devyani Khobragade for having US passports. Justice Rajiv Shakdher had stayed the 30 December, 2014 order of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), saying it had revoked the passports without issuing a show cause notice or hearing them. “Did you issue a show cause notice before passing the order of revocation? You can’t proceed in this fashion, that you revoke passport without giving hearing or issuing a show cause notice,” the court had said and added, “in these circumstances, impugned order (of 30 December, 2014) is stayed.” The court had issued notice to Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on the plea by Khobragade’s kids and sought their replies by 8 October. Till the matter is pending in court, the children would travel on their US passports and they will be issued visa by the Indian government when they wish to return, the MHA had said. (With inputs from PTI)