U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed his regret to India over the arrest and strip search of a consular official in New York as he sought to calm a row over the incident Wednesday.
Kerry phoned Indian National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon to convey "his concern that we not allow this unfortunate public issue to hurt our close and vital relationship," the State Department said.
The Indian official, Devyani Khobragade, 39, who was arrested Dec. 12, wrote in an email to colleagues that she was subjected to a cavity search during detention. India retaliated by removing concrete security barricades outside the consular section of the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, canceling airport passes for American diplomats and freezing import requests, Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said.