Paving the way for start of trial against disgraced diplomat Madhuri Gupta in an espionage case, a Delhi court on Tuesday sent the case file to the District Judge for framing of charges.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav, on completion of procedural formalities, sent the matter to the District and Sessions Judge who would allocate it to a sessions court for initiation of the trial.
The copies of the chargesheet and other documents have been supplied to the accused and now, the matter could be sent to the sessions court, Additional Public Prosecutor Naveen Kumar said.
Ms. Gupta is in jail since her arrest on April 22 on the charge of passing on sensitive information to the Pakistani intelligence agencies when she was serving in Islamabad as Second Secretary (Information).
The court, so far, has dismissed her three bail applications.
It, however, had allowed her application seeking a copy of electronic communications she allegedly exchanged with her handlers in Pakistan during her stint there.
The prosecution had opposed her bail plea saying “the accused had the dominion over the secret information relating to safety and security of India and she had committed breach of trust reposed in her by the government of India and passed on that information to Pakistani agencies and she may influence the witnesses.”
The probe agency had cited Ms. Gupta’s purported e-mails to claim that she used to pass on information to Pakistan intelligence agencies through her handler Jamshed — whom she planned to marry — and Mubashar Raza Rana.
Police had filed the chargesheet against the 53-year-old IFS officer on July 20 seeking her prosecution under various provisions of the Official Secrets Act and Indian Penal Code.
