Thursday, April 29, 2010

Arrested Woman Diplomat's Stay in J-K Being Probed

The stay of arrested Indian woman diplomat in a border district of Jammu and Kashmir was being probed by security agencies who continued to grill her over her contacts in Pakistan and the nature of documents supplied by her handlers.

The 53-year-old Gupta had driven to Sunderban area of the border distruct of Rajouri during which she had toured the area extensively in her Pakistan-registered car, official sources said today.

The woman has been maintaining in her interrogation that her action stemmed out of the alleged ill-treatment meted out by Indian Foreign Service officials to her and the way she was treated with contempt all these years.

The diplomat was quizzed today about information alleged to have been passed on to Pakistani intelligence agencies. She was arrested here six days ago after being called back from Islamabad where she was posted as Second Secretary in the Press and Information wing.

She claimed that her pay had been stopped for four years by the Ministry of External Affairs and she was not allowed to bring her car after her posting in the African nation had been completed, the sources said.

She has been maintaining that certain classified documents were procured from within the Indian Mission in Islamabad. The security agencies were questioning about her visit to Rajouri and her stay there for three days, the sources said.

She has named as her handlers Mubassar Rana, in his late 50's, and Jamshed, another Pakistan intelligence official in his early 30's.

A high-ranking Army officer and an external intelligence agency official have already come under the scanner of security agencies.

Gupta, who belongs to IFS-B service, is the first official of the Foreign Service who has been arrested for allegedly spying for Pakistan.

She is said to have been under surveillance of Indian security agencies for about four months before it was decided to arrest her. Gupta was called to Delhi last week on the pretext of discussion over SAARC summit being held at Thimphu.
Edited At: Apr 30, 2010 00:05 IST

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