Documents show Devyani Khobragade 'overpaid' her maid Sangeeta Richard

A motorola tablet, Shehnaz Hussein cosmetics, expensive perfume, her own TV set: apart from a salary of $1400, those were some of the luxuries that Sangeeta Richard, domestic help ofIndia's deputy consul general in New York Devyani Khobragade got from her employer. Documents available withMail Todayshow that Richards was getting more than the US-stipulated $1374.75 she was to be paid. India wants to use this information to back its demand that the US to drop the legal case against theIndiandiplomat.

Khobragade was arrested and stripsearched after American prosecutors alleged that she had lied on her visa form about the money paid to the domestic help, setting off an unprecedented row between Delhi and Washington. Richard and her family is now in the US under the protection of U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Armed with a bunch of documents and forensic evidence, credit cards receipts and bank statement New Delhi wants to now prove that the US not only blundered on treatment of Indian Diplomat Devyani Khobragade but has no case against her at all. The ultimate aim is to tell Washington that to drop the case, it doesn't need to do more than advise the Department of Justice to withdraw its case against Khobragade.

The legal assessment given to South Block indicates that with this proof the case against the Indian diplomat will not stand in court. But Delhi is keen that the US state department persuades the DoJ drop the case before it comes up for hearing on January 13, on the basis of this new information.

Indian negotiators in New Delhi and Washington have told their interlocutors that with the outrage unabated in New Delhi, the larger relationship runs the risk of getting derailed and it is imperative that they find a solution to this as soon as possible. This is the reason why they are pushing for a speedier solution, though the Americans have told Indians the application for a visa status change and a G1 diplomatic visa can take up to two weeks.

The Indian side says that document clearly illustrates Devyani not only paid Sangeeta a good salary besides other expenses, but it waters down the case of the US prosecutor Preet Bharara accusing her of human trafficking and of lying on her visa forms.

For instance $145 is shown as the cost of cable TV connection that Devyani had installed in Sangeeta's room, while $60 has been shown as electricity charges for her out of the $250 that was deducted from Devyani's salary slip. an amount of $200 was paid to Sangeeta twice for which the receipts have been produced. Once it was paid by Devyani and second time by her husband Aakash.

Apart from this, a sum of $573 was being transferred to Richard's family's State Bank of India account in India, besides the expenses on her phone and recharge cards, which have also been accounted for in the details shared by India.

Interestingly the amount of $ 1000 which has been mentioned as the lodging charges is not included in her employment cost of $ 1402 besides the gifts she received. If all of it is added up, it amounts to $2400 which will be more than the amount a secretary to the Government of India earns at home.

The document also underscores the yet-unanswered questions: why did US agencies pick on Khobragade and why was Richard's family 'evacuated' from India by the US embassy, even as India was demanding that the missing domestic help be tracked.