Court extends judicial custody of Madhuri Gupta by 14 days

A Delhi court today extended by 14 days the judicial custody of Madhuri Gupta, arrested for allegedly passing classified information to Pakistan's intelligence officials.
   
Gupta, 53, was sent to judicial custody till June 12 after she was produced through video-conferencing before the court of metropolitan magistrate Dharmender Rana.
   
The court had on May 21 rejected the bail application of the disgraced diplomat on the ground that some officials were yet to be examined by the investigators with regard to the case registered against her. Forensic reports with regard to the computer seized from her was also to come.
   
The Delhi police had also submitted that they were awaiting government sanction for prosecuting the lady officer.
        
Gupta was arrested on April 22 after being called back from Islamabad where she was posted as second secretary in the Press and Information wing for allegedly violating the Official Secrets Act.
       
The official came under the scanner after she showed "extraordinary" interest in areas beyond her role in the information wing of the mission.
       
Central security agencies then briefed senior MEA officials about her activities in Pakistan which included allegedly supplying sensitive and classified documents related to Indian activities in that country and Afghanistan.
       
A promotee officer of ministry of external affairs, Gupta was working in the Mission for nearly three years.
   
She was well versed in Urdu and her services were utilised for translation and interpretation. Earlier, she was posted in the Indian Mission in Kuala Lumpur and worked with 'India Perspective', a magazine of the external publicity wing of MEA.