New Delhi: Washington today rejected India’s demand to drop the visa fraud case against Devyani Khobragade,the Indian diplomat in U.S but said "We certainly take these types of allegations very seriously”. As the Americans toughed its stand on the issue ,India softened its stance saying it was important to preserve ties with the US and both sides were working to find a solution to the diplomatic row.

Any suggestion the State Department would be putting pressure on New York's US Attorney Preet Bharara to drop the charges "is not true," State Department spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters in Washington when asked about such a possibility.



It was not for the State Department "to support or not support" Khobragade's prosecution, she said. "That's a decision for law enforcement and the judicial process to make."



In New Delhi, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said he is in touch with his US counterpart and would come to "a logical conclusion" over the issue.

"My lead duty and entitlement is to be in conversation with my counterpart John Kerry, the US secretary of state. Lower than that there is also contact with the State Department and the foreign secretary," Khurshid told reporters.