The U.S. ambassador to India said she submitted her resignation Monday, weeks after the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York City sparked a diplomatic row between the two countries.
A statement posted to the Embassy’s website did not give a reason for Ambassador Nancy J. Powell’s departure, but said she planned to retire in May after a 37-year career.
Powell has also been ambassador to Uganda, Ghana, Nepal and Pakistan and previously served as director general of the Foreign Service.
U.S.-Indian relations floundered in December after police in New York City detained and allegedly strip-searched an Indian diplomat accused of submitting false documents on an application for her housekeeper to live and work in the U.S., and failing to pay the housekeeper a minimum wage.
A judge later dismissed the case against Devyani Khobragade citing diplomatic immunity and she returned to India. But a grand jury in New York indicted her again earlier this month.
