NEW DELHI— An Indian envoy whose arrest and strip search in New York City caused a diplomatic furor was heading home Friday after being indicted by a federal grand jury in Manhattan and then ordered to leave the country. The case has caused a serious rift between the United States and India, which described Devyani Khobragade's treatment as outrageous and heavy-handed. She had been facing charges of underpaying her Indian-born housekeeper and lying about it on a visa form. Her departure from the US could signal a cooling of tensions and give both countries a way to claim victory, although her father said in a televised news conference Friday that the case was a triumph for India. “Devyani today left the US with full diplomatic immunity , vindicating the stand that whatever dispute being raised in the US is a prerogative of sovereign country, India, and only can be adjudicated by Indian courts,” said her father, Uttam Khobragade, a retired bureaucrat. – AP
