The News Minute | December 20, 2014 | 09:19 am IST 

The Ministry of External Affairs has reportedly stripped Devyani Khobragade of her charge as director in the partnership development division. 

A NDTV report states that the MEA took the step against the IFS officer because she did not take due permission before making statements. The MEA has also put her under "compulsory watch".

The report also states that according to sources Khobragade, India's former deputy consul general in New York, did not disclose that her children have US passports, which is said to have 'miffed' the MEA.

Khobragade, an IFS officer from the 1999 batch, was allegedly arrested and strip searched last December over charges of visa fraud and underpaying her housekeeper in  the US. The incident snowballed into a controversy giving rise to a diplomatic row between India and the US. 

The officer soon returned to India and has denied all such charges.