Indian Diplomat Who Was Strip-Searched Is Indicted By Grand Jury On Visa Fraud

UPDATE —Jan. 9, 2014 5:30 p.m. ET:

Contrary to what US Attorney Preet Bharara said in a letter to a federal judge, Devyani Khobragade's lawyer said in a statement that she had not left the US and was "at home with her children." He did not confirm if she planned to leave the country.

Khobragade was given diplomatic immunity after the Indian government moved her from her Indian Consulate post to the Indian Mission to the UN, NBC News reported.

After India denied a waiver of immunity requested by the US, Khobragade was asked to leave the country.

Devyani Khobragade, the Indian diplomat whose arrest and strip-search in New York on charges of visa fraud sparked public protests in India and strained US-India relations, was indicted by a grand jury in New York on Thursday, Jan. 9.

The indictment, announced by federal prosecutors, included Khobragade being charged with visa fraud and making false statements in relation to the case of her domestic help.

The indictment also revealed accusations that Khobragde tried to "silence and intimidate the victim and her family and lie to Indian authorities and courts," the New York Times reported.

However, according to a letter sent to a federal judge by the US attorney's office in Manhattan, Khobragde left the country on Thursday after she was given diplomatic immunity status.

The letter states that there will be no trial and the charges will remain pending until she returns to the US either through a waiver of immunity or without immunity status, reported the Associated Press.