L A T E S T      N E W S

Devyani Khobragade flying back to India,
gets full diplomatic immunity 

NEW YORK: Senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade was today indicted for visa fraud and making false statements by a grand jury which held that the charges against her will remain even as she headed back to India after being accorded full diplomatic immunity.

The charges against 39-year-old Khobragade will remain, and she will have to face trial if she returns to the US without diplomatic immunity, US Attorney Preet Bharara said in a letter to District Judge Shira Scheindlin.

Bharara said the grand jury has indicted the diplomat on two counts of visa fraud and making false statements in connection with the visa application of her domestic help Sangeeta Richard.

"There will not need to be an arraignment on the indictment scheduled at this time. We understand that the defendant was very recently accorded diplomatic immunity status," Bharara said in his letter.

"Therefore, the charges will remain pending until such time as she can be brought to court to face the charges, either through a waiver of immunity or the defendant’s return to the United States in a non-immune status. The time between now and the time that she is able to be brought before the court is excluded automatically under the Speedy Trial Act, pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section 3161(h)(3) (A), which provides for the exclusion of any period of delay resulting from the unavailability of the defendant," he said.

"The charges against me are false and baseless. I look forward to proving them wrong," Khobragade told PTI as she boarded the plane back to India.

She also affirmed her determination to ensure that this episode does not leave a lasting imprint on her family, in particular her children who are still in the US.

Khobragade was granted full diplomatic immunity on January 8 under the India-US Headquarters Agreement.

On January 9, the US request for waiver of diplomatic immunity to Khobragade was refused by India.

A 1999-batch IFS officer, Khobragade, was arrested on December 12 on the charges of making false declarations in a visa application for her maid. She was released on a $2,50,000 bond.

The diplomat was strip searched and held with criminals, triggering a row between the two sides, with India retaliating by downgrading privileges of certain category of US diplomats.

Khobragade's lawyer Daniel Arshack said since she has been accorded diplomatic immunity, she can travel outside the country and is returning to India.

"As a result of her diplomatic status having been recognised, the Federal court today recognised Khobragade’s right to travel and she is pleased to be returning to her country. Her head is held high. She knows she has done no wrong and she looks forward to assuring that the truth is known," Arshack told PTI.

He said Khobragade denies the "baseless" charges brought by the federal prosecutor Bharara's office and "looks forward to providing the proof that over and over the investigators and prosecutors in this case have been sloppy and wrong". He said Khobragade did not make any false statements and she paid her domestic worker what she was entitled to be paid.

"Although the domestic (worker) came to work here on a short-term contract which required her to return to India at the end of her employment as a result of the false claims and shoddy investigation, she and her family now enjoy permanent residency in the United States," he said.

"The investigators in this case made serious errors as result of not fully investigating the facts. We look forward to providing the evidence of their blunders," Arshack added.

The 21-page indictment said Khobragade did not want to pay the "victim", her domestic worker Richard, the required wages under US law or provide her with other protections against exploitative work conditions mandated by US law, which are "widely publicised to foreign diplomats and government officials.

The indictment said Khobragade filed a $4,500 amount as monthly income in the visa application of Richard. It said the $4,500 figure did not match "any actual income figure".

"It was neither the agreed-upon monthly wages that Khobragade had agreed to pay the victim (about $573 per month) nor the victim's monthly wage that Khobragade falsely represented to the US Embassy through the fraudulent employment contract... Nor did the $4,500 figure reflect Khobragade's monthly income, which was considerably higher given her salary, cost of living stipend, and income from her real estate holdings in India." 

It said Khobragade entered into a "fake employment contract" with Richard and told her that it was a "mere formality" in order to get the visa and she "coached" Richard to lie to US official in her visa interview at the US Embassy in New Delhi. — PTI

Posco's Odisha steel plant gets environmental approval

NEW DELHI: South Korean steel maker Posco has received environment clearance for its Rs 52,000-crore steel plant in Odisha, ending an eight-year wait for the project to get off the ground.

"Yeah, I have cleared it," new Environment Minister M. Veerappa Moily said. "It (the approval) was given about a week back."

The approval comes a week ahead of South Korean President Park Geun Hye's visit to India.

The clearance will pave the way for Posco to build the steel plant with an annual production capacity of 12 million tons.

The Odisha project, the largest foreign direct investment in India, has languished since 2005 due to problems related to environmental clearance and land procurement.

Officials in the ministry said Posco's project comprised of two aspects — a steel plant and a port project. Moily delinked the two and granted approval for the steel plant. Environment clearance for the port is pending.

Posco's steel project had received initial clearance from the Environment Ministry in 2007 and final approval was granted in 2011. A year later, the approval was suspended by a quasi-judicial body, citing environmental concerns. — PTI

AAP kicks off nationwide membership drive

NEW DELHI: Buoyed by its spectacular success in Delhi Assembly polls, the Aam Aadmi Party on Friday kicked off a nationwide membership drive with an aim of including at least one crore members by January 26 to strengthen the party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said under the 'Main bhi aam aadmi' campaign, any citizen can enrol as member of the party without paying any fee.

"Our target is to include one crore members in the party by January 26. But the membership drive will continue after that as well," he said addressing a press conference.

He said the party had decided to waive off the Rs 10 membership fee as it was found out that many people could not afford it. "The decision to waive off the membership fee was taken at the National Executive meeting last week," he said.

Party leader Gopal Rai, who has been tasked to oversee the special membership drive, said over 3 lakh people have registered online as party members after the Delhi elections.

"This is perhaps the first time in the history of India that membership to a party is being opened to public like this. This is our biggest countrywide drive to connect with people before the Lok Sabha polls," Rai said.

"Success of this campaign is one of our major strategies before the Lok Sabha polls," he said.

Rai said the whole campaign will check the "ground reality" of the party's prospects in the Lok Sabha polls to a certain level.

"A lot will depend on this campaign. We will get to know how much response is coming and from which areas," he said.

Kejriwal said any citizen can give a missed call on mobile number 07798220033 to enroll as a party member. They can also send SMS of their name, STD code and Vidhan Sabha name after which they will get their membership number. — PTI

Person not named in FIR can also be tried if
evidence crops up: SC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday held a person can be made an accused by the trial court in case evidence crops up during the proceedings even if he has not been named in the FIR or charge sheet.

A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam said the trial court has powers to summon a person as an accused despite his name being not mentioned by the investigators in the FIR and charge sheet.

The Bench clarified that Section 319 of Criminal Procedure Code empowers the trial court to proceed against a person who appears to be guilty of offence but not named in the FIR or charge sheet.

The judgement could have implications in some cases arising out of the 2G scam in which the trial judge had summoned as accused some corporate honchos despite they being not named by CBI in the FIR and charge sheet.

The businessmen have approached the Supreme Court against the trial court's summoning order. The apex court is yet to pronounce its verdict in the case. — PTI

Criminal procedure code applicable in treason
case: Pakistan court

ISLAMABAD: In a fresh setback to embattled former Pakistani military dictator Pervez Musharraf, a special court hearing the high treason case against him on Friday ruled that criminal procedure code is applicable in the case.

Justice Faisal Arab, heading the three-member Bench, ruled that criminal procedure code is applicable in the case.

The court had on Wednesday reserved its verdict over the application of criminal laws in the case.

Prosecutor Akram Sheikh had on Wednesday said the Supreme Court had already issued a ruling according to which all crimes under the Army Act fell within the domain of Pakistan’s penal code.

He argued that the special court enjoyed all the powers of a High Court.

While presenting his arguments, 70-year-old Musharraf’s lawyer Anwar Mansoor said criminal code cannot be applied to it.

The court on Thursday issued an order summoning Musharraf before it on January 16, after reviewing the medical report submitted by his counsel.

The court said that Musharraf’s medical report did not mention that he had a heart attack and that he was not in a position to appear before it.

It also said Musharraf had been granted exemption from appearance in the court thrice earlier and added that the former president’s counsel had not submitted an application for his no-show on Friday.

Musharraf was rushed to a military hospital in Rawalpindi on January 2 after he suddenly developed a ‘heart complication’ while en route to attend the hearing of the case.

The former military strongman had also missed two earlier hearings in his case because of bomb threats, and there has been rampant speculation in the media that he would be evacuated from the country under medical pretence. — PTI

Avalanche hits Army post in Kashmir, 1 killed

SRINAGAR: An Army trooper was killed and another was missing after an avalanche hit an Army post in Kashmir's Kupwara district on Thursday evening.

Army sources said the avalanche hit the Army post in Sonapendi Gali of Machil sector in Kupwara district burying two troopers under its debris.

One of the troopers, identified as Sanatam Singh, was rescued immediately after the accident, but he later succumbed to his injuries. The other trooper was missing and the efforts were on find him. — IANS