Preet Bharara will not bend, indicts Devyani Khobragade again

Rara Avis is a Latin term for a "rare bird." The diplomatic fraternity could well coin the term "Bharara Avis" to describe this US attorney, a rare prosecutor who simply does not lose sight of his quarry no matter what the political costs are. In a move that Indian officialdom is certain to see as cussed and vindictive, Preet Bharara, the nemesis of errant Indian diplomats in New York, oversaw filing of a fresh indictment against Devyani Khobragade a day after a district judge had dismissed the case against her. The court had ruled that she had diplomatic immunity when she was charged earlier. But the ruling had given Bharara leeway to re-indict her by indicating the immunity was good only as long as she was assigned to the UN in New York, and the prosecutors were free to charge her anew since she had moved on from that window. On Friday, Bharara's office did exactly that, essentially reiterating the charges against the diplomat of visa fraud and misrepresentation in a case involving her housekeeper Sangeeta Richard. Cautionary advise by Khobragade's attorney Daniel Arshack that any new indictment would be viewed as "unnecessarily aggressive" and "one that (prosecutors) would be ill-advised to pursue," didn't deter the USAttorney, who is widely seen as a man with a mission, who remains unswayed by the fact that his target is from the same country as the one of his origin. A warrant of arrest has also been issued against Khobragade, Bharara's office said. "The Government will alert the Court immediately upon the defendant's arrest so that an appearance before Your Honor may be scheduled. At present, the defendant is believed to be in India," he said in a letter to United States District Judge William Pauley. Considering Khobragade has already left the US for India under what was virtually a limited "immunity deal" with the State Department, nothing useful can be gained from re-indicting her — except for the US attorney's office to reiterate its position and its primacy even in the face of the diplomatic wrangle between New Delhi and Washington. But the charges also dissuade Khobragade from returning to the US to re-unite with her New York-based family, with the Damocles sword of an arrest hanging over her head. Any reunion will now have to take place outside the US, unless the New Delhi and Washington arrive at a modus vivendi aimed at having Bharara drop, or at least forgo, the charges. New Delhi could also be bloody-minded and re-assign her to the UN with full diplomatic immunity provided Washington signs off on it. But the State Department, at least its legal bureau, has backed Bharara repeatedly in this episode. In fact, State Department officials said the department filed a brief before the court opposing the motion to dismiss the case against Khobragade and was surprised by the ruling, even though it agreed that she had immunity for the period New Delhi re-assigned her to the UN. "We stand by our motion that we filed in the brief opposing the dismissal of the charges. We stand by that position, absolutely," State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said. Not everyone in the Obama administration is thrilled with Bharara's crusade in this case. In private conversations, administration officials have conceded that the Khobragade flap had robbed bilateral ties of energy and momentum, although they maintained Bharara had gone by the book. But diplomacy is not played by the book, they acknowledged. "Besides, he's not the one who will be serving in missions in India," one mandarin observed ruefully, alluding to the fact that the fracas had resulted in the withdrawal of many privileges that US diplomats enjoyed in India unless it was offered to Indian diplomats in US on a reciprocal basis.