It goes to the credit of Pakistani intelligence that one of their officers nicknamed Rana trapped IFS B-Grade promotee officer and spinster 53-year-old Madhuri Gupta in a romantic tangle, and what followed was a bonanza for the neighbouring country. Their mole was sitting right inside the Indian High Commission in Islamabad for more than two years.
While RAW and IB sleuths interrogating the lady officer say that the lady had been passing on sensitive information without being ‘blackmailed', there are suspicions about Ms Gupta being compromised right from the beginning of her stint in Islamabad. She is believed to have got romantically inclined towards Rana, but now claims she was being “blackmailed” by him into sharing information, sources said.
The agencies, however, are not stopping at the “blackmailing” angle alone and have grounds to believe that money may have changed hands while information was exchanged.
According to Economic Times, some money exchanges and transfers have been made, which are now being verified by seeking her bank statements from Pakistan. The bank statements are expected to be handed over soon.
Gupta had been stationed in Islamabad for over two years and came under surveillance six months ago after a senior R&AW officer noticed her often asking probing questions not related to her field of activity - press and media.
Her suspicious behaviour was brought to the notice of the Indian high commissioner who then put JS(Personnel) - an Intelligence Bureau officer - on the job of observing her closely.
Over the next six months, Ms Gupta's dealings were tracked from close quarters. She was found taking undue interest in informal discussions among the senior embassy officials regarding important policy matters, particularly assessments regarding resumption of composite Indo-Pak dialogue.
“Gupta was intently hearing out these assessments at social gatherings or informal discussions in her presence between senior diplomats and then passing them on secretly to Pakistani intelligence agencies through Rana,” according to R&AW sources.
Mid Day reports, Madhuri is being interrogated by a special group comprising sleuths from Intelligence Bureau, RAW and Delhi police.
“Gupta was intently hearing out assessments at social gatherings or informal discussions in her presence between senior diplomats and then passing them on secretly to Pakistani intelligence agencies through Rana,” according to R&AW sources
Sources said Gupta told interrogators that a prominent Pakistani journalist put her in touch with Pakistani intelligence officers.
According to sources, Gupta, who was posted at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, told interrogators that she did not indulge in spying for the sake of money but to settle scores with some officers.
Why did she do this? Well, as she apparently told interrogators, she found her work conditions very frustrating. And she vented deep-seated spleen by turning against India and working for Pakistan. This was aided by some well-directed ego-boost by her Pakistani contacts, which may have also been physical in nature, while money may have been the requisite “sugar pill''.
According to sources, Gupta's proximity to RAW officer R.K. Sharma is under the scanner. Her computers have been brought to Delhi and emails in the last two years are being scanned.
Sources said Gupta is being interrogated about the money she has been depositing in a Pakistan bank and then transferring to India as this was allegedly the regular pay-off she received from the Inter Services Intelligence.
The sources claimed that a large chunk of money she got from the ISI was still lying in a Pakistan bank
Sources say Gupta has confessed to spying for Pakistan, and gives one of the reasons for compromising India as dissatisfaction with her service conditions and the need for money. A large chunk of payment for her services to Pakistan's ISI is still lodged with a bank in Pakistan, according to sources
Officials are busy going through her work records to detect when she may have been "turned" —was it in her previous postings in Malaysia or in New Delhi itself, when she was working at the Indian Council for World Affairs? How deep are her "sympathies"? Or was it merely "lures" like sex and money and an unrequited ambition that helped her turn to spying. Investigators told Times of India that Gupta was "very keen" to go to Pakistan while she was at the ICWA.
Intelligence officials have questioned Gupta and will be probing the case. Gupta's call and travel details in India and abroad are also under the scanner.
Indian intelligence agencies are also investigating the role of Madhuri Gupta in October attack on Indian mission in Kabul that left 17 people dead and scores injured, official sources have confirmed.
Madhuri Gupta, the sources said, is believed to have joined ranks of Pakistan's ISI in 2008 and was passing “sensitive” information to it about the activities of her mission in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The role of ISI in October attack was conveyed by Kabul to New Delhi, days after the attack took place.
“Her association with the ISI or any other Western intelligence agency will help us to understand that agency's larger role and modus operandi. However, we believe that she has passed crucial information to the agencies about the activities of Indian mission in Kabul and her role in recent attack is being investigated,” an official source said.
Sources told Asian Age that Madhuri Gupta came under the radar of intelligence agencies in January last year when she was seen attending a social event at a hotel in Islamabad where she was seen “mingling” with suspicious people.
The suspicion turned into reality when she started showing interest in work beyond the purview of her designation.
“For the first six month till October last year, when the India mission in Kabul was attacked, her activities were being monitored after some officials at the Indian high commission complained of her behaviour. Her communication and her contacts were monitored. It was after 11 months that the investigators confirmed that she was working with the ISI,” a source said.
However, the sources said the arrest has left the agencies red-faced as Ms Gupta was “allowed” to carry on her espionage activities without notifying it to RAW's head office or to the PMO.
A promotee officer of Ministry of External Affairs, Madhuri Gupta, was working in the Indian mission in Islamabad for nearly three years.
During her more than 25-year stint with the MEA, Gupta has also served in the Indian embassy at Kuala Lumpur. She was well versed in Urdu and her services were utilised for translation and interpretation. Earlier, she had worked with the 'India Perspective', a magazine of the External Publicity wing of MEA.
Gupta has also been an assistant director at the Indian Council for World Affairs (ICWA) in 2006-07. She is a spinster and lives alone in her house at west Delhi's Vikaspuri.
She has a younger brother who works abroad with a computer firm. The 53-year-old diplomat's Facebook profile shows that she might have been educated at the Delhi University and one of her favourite pages were "What do my cards say for today?" If only she knew.
