Indian woman diplomat held for spying for Pakistan\’s ISI (Third Lead)

NEW DELHI/THIMPHU - An Indian woman diplomat of second secretary rank, working with the Indian high commission in Islamabad, has been arrested here on charges of spying for Pakistan\’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), authorities said.

The 53-year-old Gupta was arrested four days ago after she was summoned to Delhi on the pretext of consultations for the April 28-29 SAARC summit meeting in Thimpu, Bhutan, official sources said.

She was arrested immediately after she landed at the Indira Gandhi international Airport.

A promotee officer of the Ministry of External Affairs, Gupta was produced again before a court Monday which remanded her to further police custody for another five days.

Confirming the official\’s detention, Vishnu Prakash, spokesperson of India\’s external affairs ministry, said in Thimphu: \”We have reason to believe that an official in the Indian high commission in Islamabad has been passing information to the Pakistani intelligence agencies.\”

\”The matter is currently under investigation. The official is cooperating with our investigations and inquiries,\” he said.

\”The accused Madhuri Gupta was arrested from her house in east Delhi by Delhi Police\’s Special Cell on charges of spying and leaking some important documents. Before the arrest, she was detained and questioned for 2-3 days,\” a police source told IANS.

\”She was serving in press and information wing of the Indian High Commission in Pakistan for the last couple of years. Her movements were being followed from past several months,\” he said.

\”The woman was produced in the court Monday after which she was sent to police custody,\” the source added.

\”We do not deny the report. But this is beyond the purview of the home ministry,\” Home Secretary G.K. Pillai told Times Now channel.

Other sources said Gupta had been under the scanner for some time and the action was taken after it was confirmed that she was passing sensitive information to her handlers.

Gupta was not a member of the main Indian Foreign Service (IFS), but belonged to the lower cadre known as IFS-B.

Gupta worked with the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), a foreign policy think tank, before she was posted at the Indian high commission in Islamabad. She worked here in 2006-2007 as assistant director, sources told IANS. The sources said she specialized in Urdu and was very keen to go to Pakistan.

But it\’s not clear yet the extent of damage she did to India\’s interests by passing on sensitive information. Diplomats, on condition of anonymity, said that as she worked with the information wing of the Indian high commission, she could not have access to high-level classified information.