Spying accused didn't go empty-handed

Jammu: Madhuri Gupta, the diplomat arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan's ISI, had picked up a packet for her handlers during her visit to Jammu on March 30, intelligence sources in Jammu said.

Gupta, who was sent to 14-day judicial remand by a Delhi court on Saturday, had picked up the packet in the Raghunath Bazar area of Jammu city, the sources said. However, it could not be ascertained as to who handed over the packet to her, the sources added.

Gupta, a second secretary at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, had hired a local driver while doing shopping in Jammu city. She had travelled across the border in her official car with the diplomatic number plate of the Indian High Commission to the home of a doctor couple in Sunderbani, 120 km north of Jammu. However, when she visited Jammu she hired a different driver, the intelligence sources said.

Des Raj, a driver from Sunderbani, was hired by Gupta to drive her car from Sunderbani to Jammu and back on March 30. She did some shopping in the well-known Raghunath Bazar area of Jammu, where she is alleged to have picked up a packet for her Pakistani handler.

The car was parked in the parking lot of Shri Maharja Gulab Singh (SMGS) Hospital. The driver was there all along till Gupta returned from her shopping, which took almost 90 minutes, the sources said.

From there, she asked the driver to take her to a popular sweet shop in Gandhi Nagar area, before returning to Sunderbani.

The driver had been hired for Gupta by Kham Raj Sharma, with whom she had stayed.

Close to frontier

Sunderbani is close to the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

Raghunath Bazar is a busy shopping area, a favourite with Hindu pilgrims visiting the Vaishno Devi shrine. The market offers a variety of dry fruits, and local and Kashmiri handicraft.