Ridiculous to link US cop`s arrest with Devyani Khobragade case: India

New York: The Indian consulate in New York dismissed as "ridiculous" suggestions that there was any connection between the detention of a US police official in New Delhi and the earlier arrest of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade here. In a statement, the consulate said the New York Police Department official was detained in New Delhi after his baggage was found to contain a few rounds of live ammunition when his baggage was screened prior to his taking a domestic flight. "In India, this is a violation of the Arms Act. Indeed, he was released on bail immediately and is currently in India awaiting a court date to resolve the case," it said.

Harlem police officer Manny Encarnacion was arrested March 11 in New Delhi after three 9 mm bullets were found in the pocket of a jacket in his checked luggage. Encarnacion was produced before a court in Patiala House court, which granted him bail the same day. Dismissing US media reports that the US cop`s arrest was in retaliation to the arrest and strip search of Khobragade, India’s then deputy consul general in New York, an official told IANS: "If someone is carrying bullets in his baggage, it is against Indian law. There is a procedure to be followed in such cases." "This is stand alone case, it has nothing to do with the Khobragade case," the official said.