The Indian mission to the UN today said that diplomat Alok Ranjan Jha, who is accused of misbehaving with a co-passenger on board an Air India flight, was transferred to New Delhi after it "promptly" reported the matter to the Ministry of External Affairs.
"We have been told that there are reports appearing on Indian TV (channels) regarding transfer of Mr Alok Jha to Delhi," sources in the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations told PTI.
The "matter regarding an incident involving him at JFK airport was promptly reported to the Ministry of External Affairs, which is seized of the matter and has transferred the officer to New Delhi," they said. Separately, the mission's spokesman told a private Indian TV channel that there was no arrest following the incident involving Jha. "That I can tell you very clearly, there has been no arrest.
Absolutely not," spokesman Vinod Jacob told the channel, replying to a question on Jha. Jha, a 2002 Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer and first secretary in the permanent mission in New York, was transferred to Delhi following the incident on January 7. He is the second diplomat after London-based Anil Verma, who is accused of beating his wife, to be transferred back to India in less than a week's time.