US denies strip searching Indian minister

However, the embassy admitted yesterday that some "diplomatic procedures" were not followed and it apologised to Mr Fernandes.

The reports emerged in a book by the former the US Deputy Secretary of State, Strobe Talbott.

His successor, Richard Armitage, says he is "horrified" by the incident.

Mr Armitage was speaking in Delhi where he is meeting government and opposition members.

In his book Mr Talbott says that Mr Fernandes told him he had been strip-searched on two occasions while entering and leaving the US.

But the US embassy denied that had happened.

"The minister was not strip-searched but did have a security wand placed over him when a key in his pocket set off the metal detector," a US embassy spokeswoman said.

She added that the US had established procedures for such security procedures to be waived for heads of states, government ministers and diplomats if the authorities are notified in advance.

It is not clear why these were not followed in Mr Fernandes' case.

The Indian ambassador in Washington at the time, Lalit Mansingh, says that an exception should have been made.

"I protested to the security detail that the defence minister should not be searched, that he was a guest of the US government, but the security personnel accompanying Mr Fernandes stood aside and said that they had no jurisdiction to intervene," he told The Hindu newspaper.