Devyani Khobragade case: End in sight for India-US diplomatic row?

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Thursday night could see the end of the ensuing diplomatic row between India and the United States over Devyani Khobragade. Sources have said that India has received positive signals from the US over resolving the matter, a day after Secretary of State John Kerry called National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon and expressed regret for the treatment meted out to the top Indian diplomat. Devyani was handcuffed in public following her arrest last week over visa fraud charges. She was later strip-searched and locked up in a jail cell with drug addicts, before being freed on bail. The details of the arrest and subsequent mis-treatment raised anger in India like never before, with the government stripping US diplomats of their special privileges and setting in motion several other measures which the US media has described as "revenge". US Under Deputy Secretary of State for Political Affairs Windy Sherman today spoke to Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and distanced the State Department from the statement issued by US Attorney Preet Bharara on the Devyani Khobragade case. Bharara, of Indian-origin, has defended the arrest of Devyani and claimed she was treated in a fair manner. Later today, Kerry is expected to speak to External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid who has firmly demanded that the US must apologise and withdraw all charges against the Indian diplomat, who has since then been shifted from the Indian consulate in New York to the Indian permanent mission at the United Nations. Many are expecting that the apology could come as soon as Kerry talks to Khurshid.