Pak spy Madhuri Gupta alleges harassment in jail

Disgraced diplomat Madhuri Gupta, accused of passing sensitive information to Pakistani intelligence officials, on Friday alleged before a Delhi court that the jail authorities in the national capital were harassing her.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja sought a response from Tihar jail authorities on an application filed by the Indian Foreign Service Grade-B officer.

"Tihar jail authorities are harassing me and threatening to implicate me in different cases," she alleged in a hand written application filed in the court. She was produced in the court following the end of her judicial custody.

Meanwhile, the court extended her judicial remand till July 20. The Delhi police, which had arrested Gupta on April 22 after she was called from Islamabad, where she was posted as second secretary in the press and information wing, is likely to file a chargesheet in the case registered against her after July 20.

The official is facing charges for allegedly violating the Official Secrets Act. She had come under the scanner after she showed 'extraordinary' interest in areas beyond her role in the information wing of the mission.

Central security agencies had 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 the ministry of external affairs, Gupta had been working in the mission for nearly three years.

She was well-versed in Urdu and her services were utilised for translation and interpretation of documents. Earlier, she was posted in the Indian mission in Kuala Lumpur and worked with 'India Perspective', a magazine of the external publicity wing of the MEA.