Indian envoy to NZ stripped of credentials

"Yesterday, the accreditation of Harish Kumar Dogra was withdrawn,"said foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna. Adding that the New Zealand high commission (embassy) in New Delhi as well as the foreign office in Wellington had been told.

Sarna said Dogra's successor, K. P. Ernest, will "shortly" take up the post as India's ambassador to New Zealand.

"Dogra was recalled on March 1 and he indicated that he'd come back by the first week of April, and thereafter said he will return on April 15, but he has failed to adhere to his own schedule and continues to stay on in New Zealand," Sarna said.

The spokesman declined to specify why the senior diplomat, who handed over his duties to his deputy last week, had been recalled.

"I cannot go into charges and counter-charges... Dogra has been recalled under ministry of external affairs rules," he told reporters.