In a new dimension to the sensational case of an Indian woman diplomat who was arrested on a charge of spying for Pakistan, a high-ranking army officer and an officer of an external intelligence agency are being watched by security agencies.
The diplomat, Madhuri Gupta, 53, continued to be grilled in detention today about information she is suspected to have 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, on the pretext of discussing the Saarc summit that is now on in Thimphu, Bhutan.
Following Gupta's interrogation and earlier surveillance, the security agencies have zeroed in on a couple residing in Rajouri district of Jammu & Kashmir, who were in regular touch through email and telephone with the arrested diplomat in Islamabad.
The Rajouri-based woman had gone to Pakistan several times.
A highly placed source said the senior army officer used to visit the Rajouri couple when he was posted in the region. He is related to the couple, but his frequent visits to them aroused the suspicion of security agencies, the source said.
Some of the emails exchanged between Gupta and the Rajouri woman are part of the documents being held as evidence against the diplomat, who is in the custody of the special cell of the Delhi police.
The role of the external intelligence agency officer is also being investigated. Gupta may have been taking information from him, the source said.
But it was not immediately clear whether he knew the woman's real designs. He could be questioned by the security agencies, the source said.
Gupta, who belongs to the Indian Foreign Service, B category, is the first IFS official to have been arrested as a Pakistani spy.
Gupta is said to have been under surveillance by Indian security agencies for about four months before a decision was made to arrest her.
Security agencies briefed senior external affairs ministry officials about Gupta's alleged activities in Pakistan, which included supplying sensitive and classified documents related to Indian interests in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the source said.
Gupta has been extensively questioned by sleuths of the Intelligence Bureau and officers of the Delhi police. She reportedly claimed that she used to obtain sensitive information within the Indian high commission in Islamabad.
A source said the woman had been passing information related to policy matters and movement of Indian officials to a Pakistani intelligence man identified only as Rana.
A promotee officer of the external affairs ministry, Gupta was working in the mission in Islamabad for nearly three years and reportedly told investigators she had been passing information since 2008.
She was well versed in Urdu and her services were used for translation and interpretation.
Earlier, she had been posted in the Indian mission in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and worked with India Perspective, a magazine of the external publicity wing of the ministry.
