WASHINGTON: The Devyani Khobragade case came up for a discussion at Harvard Law School with India-born United States prosecutor Preet Bharara telling the graduating class that the "intense" criticism and accusation hurled at him for charging the Indian diplomat with visa fraud had upset him.

Bharara was invited to address students and faculty at the prestigious law school on its 2014 Class Day ceremony last week.

The top U.S. attorney in Manhattan spoke about the criticism he faces from all quarters as well as from various governments because of his work.

He added that he has even "been banned from Russia".

Raising the Khobragade case, Bharara said he got the most flak for prosecuting the former Indian deputy Consul General even though the case was initiated and investigated by the U.S. State Department and seasoned law enforcements officials.

"You may have heard about the case we brought last year in which the State Department arrested a mid-level Indian female diplomat Devyani Khobragade for visa fraud in connection with lies about what she would ultimately pay her domestic worker (also an Indian).

"(It was) not the crime of the century but a serious crime nonetheless, that is why the State Department opened the case, that is why the State Department investigated it. That is why career agents in the State Department asked career prosecutors in my office to approve criminal charges. That case basically caused an international incident," he said.

Bharara said he became "personally aware" that Khobragade would be arrested only a couple of days before the arrest was scheduled.
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