Khobragade Case: U.S. Launches 'Inter-Agency Review'

At a time the Pentagon is busy reviewing its policy towards the Asia-Pacific region, wherein India fits as a major player in its scheme of things and is eyeing to have a large pie in the modernisation programme of the Indian armed forces, the last thing it would like to see is any strain in its ties with New Delhi, officials said.

A 1999-batch IFS officer, Khobragade, India's Deputy Consul General in New York, was arrested on charges of making false declarations in a visa application for her maid Sangeeta Richard. She was released on a $250,000 bond.

The 39-year-old 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 U.S. diplomats among other steps.

The strong Indian reaction came as a "shock and disbelief", especially to those who have anything to do with the country's foreign policy, as they had never expected such a strong retaliatory measure from New Delhi.

Top officials of the Obama Administration - in particular those in the State Department, Department of Justice and White House - took it simply a matter of "enforcing" law of the land, which was exploited by Sangeeta to immigrate to the U.S.

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