Attorney claims 'error' in Devyani arrest, Bharara may have goofed up

New York: If this turns out to be true, Manhattan Attorney Preet Bharara, who arrested and charged Devyani Khobragade with visa fraud, is going to be left with egg on his face. Khobragade’s lawyer accused US authorities on Tuesday of goofing up majorly while drawing up the charges against the Indian diplomat. Attorney Daniel Arshack told the Associated Press that the agent who drew up charges against his client made “a key error” in reading a form submitted on behalf of Khobragade’s nanny Sangeeta Richard. Arshack said the error was in “erroneously and disastrously” mistaking Khobragade’s listed base salary of $4,500 per month for what she intended to pay her housekeeper. [caption id=“attachment_1305085” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  Devyani Khobragade. PTI[/caption] Arshack said Khobragade’s salary needed to be listed on the form so that US embassy officials in Delhi would know that Khobragade had sufficient salary to be able to pay her housekeeper $1,560 per month, or $9.75 per hour for a 40-hour workweek. According to the charges from Bharara’s office, Khobragade paid her housekeeper about $3.31 per hour. The attorney and Khobragade’s sister, Sharmistha, have both made the case that the Indian diplomat paid Richard $1,560 sum per month and generous perks which included a place to stay in their house, food, medical expenses, and access to phones to keep in touch with family in India. “Arshack said it became apparent as he and others closely reviewed the forms Khobragade was required to submit to arrange for the hiring of her housekeeper that the information she had submitted had been misunderstood,” reported the Associated Press. “It’s incredibly unsexy kind of information, but it does go right to the heart of what this is about,” the attorney told the US news agency. Prosecutors declined to comment on the news report. In the first sign that behind-the-scenes diplomacy between India and the US is starting to defuse tensions, Khobragade, was exempted by a US court from appearing in person for pre-trial processes in the case filed against her. Cognizant of the lower depths to which the diplomatic row has now dragged bilateral ties, the US finally saw fit to exempt Khobragade from appearing in person every week for pre-trial processes which would have put the diplomat through fingerprinting and a battery of medical tests. Khobragade was arrested two weeks ago and charged with lying on a visa form about how much she paid her nanny to obtain a work visa for Richard. The US had not bargained for the ferocity of the Indian reaction to the deplorable way Khobragade was treated during her arrest on 13 December. Khobragade could face a maximum sentence of 10 years for visa fraud and five years for making a false declaration if convicted.