Salman Khurshid hopes Devyani Khobragade arrest in US will be resolved soon

Expressing his unhappiness over the arrest of an Indian diplomat in the United States, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Sunday said he hopes the matter will be resolved soon.

Addressing media here, Khurshid said, "Yesterday the American ambassador was summoned and we expressed our feelings and anger on the issue to him. We hope that the U.S. will respect our sentiments on the issue. Whatever legal issues are there, an immediate improvement will be made. I hope they will sort out this problem as soon as possible."

India's Deputy Counsel general Devyani Khobragade , 39, was on Thursday arrested for presenting false documents for a visa application for her Indian origin babysitter and housekeeper at her home in New York.

On Thursday, she was taken into custody after she dropped her daughter to school at around 9 a.m. She was charged with presenting false documents and visa fraud, which has maximum sentence of five and ten years of imprisonment respectively.

The Indian Embassy in Washington reacted strongly on the issue and released a statement saying it "immediately conveyed its strong concern" to the US Government over the action taken against Khobragade.

The Indian Embassy in a statement said, "The US side have been urged to resolve the matter with due sensitivity, taking into account the Diplomatic status of the officer concerned.