The recent arrest and alleged confession of travel YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra for involvement with Pakistani intelligence operatives has brought back chilling memories of a similar espionage case that rocked India in 2010. A former diplomat Madhuri Gupta, who was convicted of spying for Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Madhuri Gupta ex-diplomat
Gupta, who served as an assistant director of the Indian Council of World Affairs and later as press and information secretary at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, was arrested in New Delhi in 2010. She was suspected of passing sensitive information to Pakistani officials since 2008.
In 2018, at the age of 66, Gupta was sentenced to three years in jail under various provisions of the Official Secrets Act. The court found her guilty of unauthorised contact with Pakistani intelligence operatives Mubshar Raza Rana and Jamshed. She was accused of sharing critical information, both personally and through her email, with ISI handlers between October 2009 and April 2010. This included a promise to gather details on a hydroelectric project in Jammu and Kashmir, which posed grave national security risks.
Honeytrap
Sources from the time indicated that Gupta, fluent in Urdu, was allegedly “trapped” by a younger Pakistani operative, Jamshed, and had expressed a desire to marry him and even cross over to Pakistan. A Delhi court, during her sentencing, noted her “intention of helping the enemy country,” despite her inability to pass on all specific information.
Madhuri Gupta consistently denied all allegations throughout her trial, claiming she was falsely implicated by senior officials. She passed away in 2021 in Bhiwandi, Rajasthan.
(With PTI Inputs)