New Delhi: India has irrefutable evidence to prove that there was a conspiracy behind the arrest of beleaguered diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York on December 12 in an alleged visa fraud case, it is learnt.
The role of US embassy personnel in arranging visa for the family members of Devyani’s maid Sangeeta Richard was being probed, sources said. Sangeeta’s kin took an Air India flight from India to the US just two days before the diplomat’s arrest in New York.
The tickets for Sangeeta’s husband Philips and their two children Jannifar and Jatin were issued by the travel agency of the US embassy in New Delhi. The three tickets were exempt from a service tax of 4.5 per cent.
The family was issued a T Nonimmigrant Status (T visa) provided to victims of human trafficking. Sources claimed that the US embassy had committed an immigration fraud because it granted visas to the maid’s family even though Sangeeta was untraceable. They wondered on what grounds the family was given visa and on whose application. The role of Sangeeta’s father-in-law, who is said to be working for the US embassy, in the entire controversy is also suspect.
India had lodged a complaint with the New York Police way back in June that Sangeeta was absconding but the police sat on the complaint and did nothing. “The US did not respond to repeated requests to help find Sangeeta when Devyani was arrested. India also asked the American embassy to help find Richard way back on July 5,” sources said. There is also a suspicion that Sangeeta might have been passing on vital information to the US.
24/12/13 Tribune
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The role of US embassy personnel in arranging visa for the family members of Devyani’s maid Sangeeta Richard was being probed, sources said. Sangeeta’s kin took an Air India flight from India to the US just two days before the diplomat’s arrest in New York.
The tickets for Sangeeta’s husband Philips and their two children Jannifar and Jatin were issued by the travel agency of the US embassy in New Delhi. The three tickets were exempt from a service tax of 4.5 per cent.
The family was issued a T Nonimmigrant Status (T visa) provided to victims of human trafficking. Sources claimed that the US embassy had committed an immigration fraud because it granted visas to the maid’s family even though Sangeeta was untraceable. They wondered on what grounds the family was given visa and on whose application. The role of Sangeeta’s father-in-law, who is said to be working for the US embassy, in the entire controversy is also suspect.
India had lodged a complaint with the New York Police way back in June that Sangeeta was absconding but the police sat on the complaint and did nothing. “The US did not respond to repeated requests to help find Sangeeta when Devyani was arrested. India also asked the American embassy to help find Richard way back on July 5,” sources said. There is also a suspicion that Sangeeta might have been passing on vital information to the US.
24/12/13 Tribune
