'Tired and exhausted' Prabhu Dayal explains maid row to government

Prabhu Dayal, the embattled Indian consul general in New York, who has been slapped with forced labour charges by his former housekeeper, has apprised the Indian government about the case, insisting that allegations against him are "complete lies".

"I have told them (ministry of external affairs in Delhi) about the case and kept them in the picture," a "tired and exhausted" Dayal told PTI, as the media storm on the allegations continued.

"I have they told them this is complete lies," he said, adding that the ministry had been informed when the 45-year-old maid Santosh Bhardwaj suddenly disappeared in January 2010 and has now re-appeared with these allegations.

Both Dayal and the MEA now need to wait until a trial gets underway but observers have said that matter could be settled out of court.

Dayal has appropriately 25 days to respond to the charges. She has filed a forced labour-suit against him for making her work for long hours every day at $300 a month, confiscating her passport and making her sleep in a storage closet.

Dayal has vehemently denied all these charges including the accusation of asking Bhardwaj for a massage, which she interpreted as a sexual advance.

The Indian diplomat has described these accusations as "complete nonsense and malicious lies."

Dayal has said that Bhardwaj left because he did not allow her to do part-time work outside for extra money, which was against visa regulations.

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.

The Indian diplomat speculated that the reason behind the law suit--almost a year-and-a-half later is because Bhardwaj has run out of money and maybe needs to get back home.

If that is the case, he said, the Consulate could issue her an "emergency certificate" since her visa has been cancelled.

"My guess is that she had considerable savings and the money has run out," he said.

"She can't leave the country without the passport."

The Indian diplomat said that facing the press continuously for the past two days had left him "very tired and exhausted."