Former diplomat Madhuri Gupta convicted of spying for Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence
A Delhi court on Friday convicted former diplomat Madhuri Gupta of passing secret information to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence during her posting at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad in 2010, The Indian Express reported.
Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma held Gupta guilty under various provisions of the Official Secrets Act for criminal conspiracy and wrongful communication of information protected under the law, according to PTI. The offences carry a maximum sentence of three years in prison. The court will hear arguments on the quantum of sentence on Saturday.
The court, however, acquitted her of stringent provisions of the Official Secrets Act with a maximum punishment of 14 years as the prosecution could not prove it. “No document was passed over by her to her handlers,” the court order said. “To my mind, email is not helpful to the prosecution to establish a case against the accused attracting 14 years of imprisonment.”
Gupta was the second secretary (press and information) at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. The Delhi Police arrested her on April 22, 2010, for passing on sensitive information to Pakistani officials and remaining in touch with two ISI officials, Mubshar Raza Rana and Jamshed.