[TIMESOFINDIA.INDIATIMES] The United States and India expelled a diplomat each in what was politely termed "withdrawal", as the torrid month-long diplomatic stand-off over deputy consul general in New York, Devyani Khobragade, drew to a bitter close. As the Indian diplomat flew back within hours after the state department accorded her full diplomatic immunity, India, in a clear tit-for-tat action on Friday, asked the US embassy to send home a senior diplomat working as a counselor.The government said it was done to ensure reciprocity as the US, too, had asked India to withdraw Khobragade after New Delhi refused to waive her full diplomatic immunity in her capacity as counselor to India's permanent mission to UN.
Khobragade's departure followed her criminal indictment by US attorney Preet Bharara on two counts of visa fraud and misrepresentation in a case involving her employment of an Indian housekeeper/nanny Sangeeta Richard in New York.