NEW DELHI An Indian diplomat accused of spying for Pakistan was remanded by a New Delhi court to 14 days in custody Saturday as her lawyer insisted she had been “framed.”
Madhuri Gupta, who worked in the information service of the Indian High Commission (embassy) in Islamabad as an Urdu translator, was arrested by police in April when she was summoned to New Delhi after being trailed for months.
The bespectacled Gupta, 53, a second secretary at the High Commission, has been accused of breaching Indias Official Secrets Act, an offence which carries a maximum 14-year jail sentence.
But her lawyer Joginder Dahiya said his client was “being framed in the case.”Dahiya said police had not come up with evidence to prove Guptas guilt and that she would likely to file a bail application next week.
Junior state minister Preneet Kaur told parliament earlier in the week that Gupta did not have access to highly classified material in her job.
Gupta, dubbed “Pakistans Indian mole” by Indias media, is the first woman Indian diplomat to face charges of spying for Pakistan.
She had been working in the Islamabad mission for three years and came under suspicion because of the “extraordinary interest” she started taking in subjects unrelated to her assignment, Indian media reported.—AFP
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