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

New York, April 6: 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.

IANS