New York: Indian Consul General in New York Prabhu Dayal, accused of treating a former domestic help as a slave and making sexual advances, has sought her removal from the country on the grounds that she no longer has a legitimate visa to be in New York.
"I formally request that removal proceedings be commenced against Santosh Bharadwaj," Ravi Batra, his lawyer, wrote in a letter to Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security and Eric M Holder, Attorney General of the United States.
"As Ms Bhardwaj voluntarily abandoned the employ of the Consul General and the Consulate on January 28, 2010 she is within our borders in violation of her non-immigrant status and conditions of entry into the US", the letter said.
Bhardwaj, 45, accuses Dayal of making her work for long hours everyday at $300 a month, confiscating her passport and making her sleep in a storage closet.
Dayal, who has described these charges as "complete nonsense," said that Bhardwaj ran away because he did not allow her to work outside the consulate to make some extra money as it was against her visa rules.
Dayal has said that he never asked Bhardwaj for a massage, which she interpreted as a sexual advance.
He said that she left very comfortably in her own furnished room in the consulate and was paid according to the rules.
The Indian government is backing Dayal. Legal Aid Society, which is representing Bhardwaj said, that Dayal does not have diplomatic immunity since the subject matter of the case is all private.
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