Washington, May 2: President Pratibha Patil’s son Rajendra Singh Shekhawat did not inform the Indian or Mexican governments well in advance that he would be breaking away from the presidential entourage in Mexico City and travelling to the US on personal business as claimed by him and the minister of state for external affairs, Anand Sharma, yesterday.

His detour to Florida was a hush-hush affair known only to a few in the President’s inner circle.

The Telegraph is in possession of documentary evidence showing that a charade of VVIP security arrangements was made in Mexico City until the last minute for Shekhawat to attend President Felipe Calderon’s banquet for Patil on April 17 and for all official functions the following day.

As the bulk of officials accompanying Patil discovered during the banquet, Shekhawat was already in Florida by the time the bandobast had been made for his journey to Calderon’s castle in Mexico City for the banquet and for official functions the following day.

India’s ambassador to Mexico, Rinzing Wangdi, told this correspondent that he had not noticed Shekhawat’s absence from the banquet at that time. The implication of that statement was that he was not informed that Shekhawat would be flying to the US although Wangdi would not confirm this.

In a weak effort to defend the President’s son that did not stand up to scrutiny, Sharma falsely claimed yesterday that it was known from the beginning of the presidential trip that Shekhawat would be travelling with the delegation till Mexico and then to Florida on his own.

For his part, Shekhawat made his case worse by telling the Press Trust of India that “in my spare time in Mexico, I could have gone shopping, but I chose to visit the nearby US educational facility”.

Shekhawat told a TV channel yesterday about his absence: “I wasn’t involved in official dialogue. I was just part of the delegation. I was a family member. I could have also gone for sightseeing but I did not do so.”

In addition to expenses incurred at the taxpayer’s cost on his inclusion in the presidential entourage, he was paid a daily allowance by the government throughout the trip.

According to officials who handled the financial arrangements for Patil’s Latin American tour, Shekhawat drew a daily allowance from the government amounting to 25 per cent of the rates for officials in the delegation. He was paid in cash. The full rates for officials were euros 47.33 in Lisbon, $75 in Brazil and $56.25 in both Mexico and Chile for each day the President was outside India.

Sources at the Indian embassy in Mexico said he drew his daily allowance from the government even for the time he was in Florida on private business.

Kristine McGrath, the press secretary at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), told this newspaper yesterday: “I am able to confirm that he (Shekhawat) visited the university.… At that time, he met with the dean of Florida Atlantic University’s College of Business, where he was introduced to the college and its many activities.”

McGrath added that “in addition, he met the president of the university. At that time, they very briefly discussed possible academic linkages between FAU and India. There were very preliminary discussions.”

Shekhawat had told PTI yesterday that “I went there (to FAU) as I was interested in observing their classrooms, laboratories and learning about their syllabus as I am associated with several educational institutes.”

The buzz at the Indian embassy in Washington is that the office of the principal director of audit for all the Indian diplomatic missions on the American continent will look into the propriety of sending an official from Washington to Florida to look after Shekhawat.

Since the President’s son is a private citizen and was in the US on private business, auditors may find fault with the decision to send the embassy’s head of chancery on a trip to Florida to attend to Shekhawat’s needs at government expense.