Devyani Stripped…

0

By Soumitra Bose/Mukesh Kumar Sinha

Rising Sphinx-like from Ashes, still-NSUI-symbolising, calling-a-spade-a-spade, protocol-saving Congress leader Manish Tewari gratuitously criticised the BJP-led NDA Government for stripping diplomat Devyani Khobragade (of her duties as director in the Partnership Development Division, saying it exposes the Centre’s double speak.

“This is another example of this government’s double-speak. What has changed in the last one year that this government, which was such a valiant supporter of Devyani earlier, has taken action against her now,” Tewari told ANI here.

Meanwhile, former diplomat Rajiv Dogra said one should not question the Ministry of External Affairs for taking administrative action against Khobragade.

“An administrative process has been put in motion. For an administrative process to be put in motion, there must have been some serious implications and some serious needs or provocations. I don’t think we should question the MEA’s decision to take administrative action,” said redoubtedly valiant Dogra. “At the same time, we have to really ponder whether the causes that led to treatment by the US of Devyani Khobragade have since been eliminated by the US authorities”.

According to reports, the government has placed Khobragade under ‘compulsory watch’ after she spoke to the media without seeking permission.

Ministry of External Affairs stripped her of her duties as director in the Partnership Development Division. The ministry has said that Ms Khobragade did not take due permission before making statements and put her under “compulsory watch”.

Sources say that the administrative action was taken against Khobragade also because the ministry is “miffed” with the IFS officer for not disclosing that her children have US passports. She is facing a vigilance inquiry over the issue.

“Some false reports have come in the newspapers that there is some illegality around my children’s passports and that I hid a fact that my children have American passports. There is nothing of that sort, I myself informed the government that my kids were born in the US and are considered US citizens,” Khobragade.
Speaking about the allegations against her of falsifying documents by the judicial panel that investigated the Adarsh scam, Ms Khobragade said, “My father never handled the Adarsh file, therefore he never violated any of the service rules. The CBI has now closed its inquiry and neither my name nor my father’s name figures in that report. So that rests the allegations of corruption and wrongdoing.”

Khobragade, a 1999 Indian Foreign Service officer and mother of two daughters, was arrested and strip-searched in New York in December last year on charges of ill-treating her domestic help. The incident had strained the relations between two countries.

Both  Khobragade and the Indian government have denied those charges. Ms Khobragade has now returned to India.

 

Khobragade, a 1999 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, was arrested and strip-searched in New York in December last year on charges of ill-treating her domestic help. The incident had led to a major diplomatic row between the two countries.

Devyani Khobragade claims the value of her properties at Rs1.78 crore plus three tracts of land in her own statement to MEA. A lot of her properties are inherited from or gifted to her by her father, Uttam Khobragade, a controversial former IAS officer

Dr Devyani Khobragade, the officer from Indian Foreign Services (IFS) cadre is at the centre of a diplomatic row between India and the US. In order to ensure full diplomatic immunity post the arrest and release episode in New York, Dr Khobragade was on Wednesday transferred to the Indian permanent mission at UN in New York. While several people know about her father, Uttam Khobragade, a retired officer from Indian Administrative Services (IAS), nothing much is known about Devyani Khobragade. What is interesting are the huge assets in her name, a lot of which was gifted by her father, a controversial officer of the IAS.

 

According to a statement submitted by Dr Khobragade to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), as of 31 March 2012, she owned 11 properties, including flats and land in Maharashtra, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh. She declared some of the flats and land as ‘inherited’ from her father while others were bought by her. As per the declaration, Dr Khobragade earns a salary of Rs50,350 (including grade pay) per month, while generating revenues of Rs2.26 lakh a year from all her immovable properties. The total value of properties, excluding three agriculture land, owned by Dr Khobragade is Rs1.78 crore as per her statement. In short, as of 31 March 2012, Dr Khobragade was earning total revenues, including her salary and income from properties, of Rs8.30 lakh for FY2012 and owned properties of Rs1.78 crore, plus market value of three tracts of land.

 

However, as per the present market value, her properties may be worth more than Rs6 crore as her 1,000 sq ft in the controversial Adarsh Coop Housing Society (Adarsh CHS) in Mumbai alone is worth about Rs4 crore.

 

Dr Khobragade stated that she bought the flat in Adarsh CHS for Rs90 lakh by selling a flat in Meera Coop Housing Society at Oshiwara in Mumbai. While this may look good on paper, the reality may be quite different as the property rates between Oshiwara, which is located between Goregaon and Jogeshwari, and Colaba, the prime location of the Adarsh CHS, are way apart. For example, at present a flat in Colaba is priced between Rs39,400 to Rs43,600 per sq ft, while the same in Goregaon costs between Rs14,800 to Rs15,300, per sq ft as per Magicbricks.com. In short, the price difference between a flat in Colaba and Oshiwara is about three times. She did not mention the purchase price or value of her Oshiwara flat in the statement, though.

 

In 2006, Dr Khobragade purchased a non-agriculture plot measuring 5,000 sq ft at Alibag from Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority (MHADA) that is shows as worth Rs10 lakh in the statement. As a co-incidence, her father was the chief executive (CEO) and vice president of MHADA between 2000-02 and 2004-05. Even this plot is worth over Rs50 lakh as per the current market price.

 

As per the statement filed by Dr Khobragade, out of her 11 properties, she purchased only four, while rest were either inherited or gifted or transferred by her father over the years. Besides, a flat in Adarsh CHS and plot in Alibag, Dr Khobragade also purchased a flat measuring 500 sq ft at Kanchanwadi in Aurangabad district for Rs7 lakh and a plot of 200 sq metres at Swarna Nagari Greater Noida in Gautam Buddha Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh for Rs20 lakh. According to the statement, she bought the Swarna Nagari plot by selling a house at Gurgaon from Ansal Building. But there is no value attached to her Ansal Building house in the statement.

 

For three agriculture lands, Dr Khobragade inherited from her father and from which she earns an annual income of Rs70,000, there is no purchase value mentioned. This includes 25-acre land at Gowardhan village in Chandrapur district, 8-acre land at Gawahne village in Ratnagiri district and 2-acre land in Kalamb village in Raigad district.

 

Dr Khobragade earns highest revenues of Rs1.20 lakh during FY2012 from a flat measuring 800 sq ft at Kondwa in Pune that was purchased by her father in 1995 and as of March 2012 was valued at Rs25 lakh.

 

Uttam Khobragade also gifted two land parcels measuring 2.02 and 2.7 ares in Ernakulam district of Kerala to his daughter on 20 December 2011. Present value of these two plots is shown as Rs16.35 lakh in the statement submitted by Dr Khobragade to MEA. Khobragade also transferred a plot measuring 3.97 ares (9.805 Cents) in Pallipuram village in Kerala to his daughter’s name on 2 January 2009. This is valued at Rs5 lakh.

 

Leave A Reply