A court here on Saturday accepted the charge-sheet filed against disgraced diplomat Madhuri Gupta, accused of passing sensitive information to Pakistani intelligence officials.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja took cognisance of the charges framed against IFS Grade-B officer after going through the 700-page charge sheet which was filed by the Delhi Police on July 20.
Matter posted for Aug. 5
The Judge posted the matter for further proceeding on August 5.
During the brief hearing, the investigating officer informed the court that the forensic report of the hard disc recovered from Gupta’s residence is yet to come and it has also sought sanction from the Ministry of External Affairs to prosecute the diplomat in the case.
The charge-sheet and annexures filed before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate had sought the prosecution of the officer under various provisions of the Official Secrets Act and the Indian Penal Code.
The probe agency, citing Gupta’s purported e-mails in the charge-sheet, claimed that she used to pass on information to Pakistan intelligence agencies through her handler Jamshed, whom she planned to marry, and Mubshar Raza Rana.
“The contents of an e-mail showed that she was in love with Jamshed. Both had planned to get married. It is further very clear from the content that Jamshed is a Pakistani. The motive is clear and established from the e-mail,” the charge-sheet said.
The police, in the charge-sheet, had claimed that she got in touch with Rana and Jamshed after she was introduced to them by Javed Rashid, a journalist of ‘ Jung ’ newspaper.
Rana created an e-mail ID for her and asked her to send information to the ID, the charge-sheet said and also referred to the recovery of two mobile phones from her possession besides one SIM card and a Blackberry with a Pakistani SIM card, the police alleged.
Police has cited 30 witnesses to buttress the charges against Gupta.
Earlier, when Gupta was arrested in April, police had alleged that she was given Rs 1 lakh for allegedly passing secret information to ISI agents.
Gupta, 53, posted as Press and Information second secretary at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, was arrested on April 22 by the Delhi Police’s Special Cell on the charges of revealing classified information to Pakistani officials.
