Espionage case: Ex-diplomat Madhuri Gupta convicted of spying for Pak's ISI

Former diplomat Madhuri Gupta, who had served at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, was on Saturday sentenced to three years in jail for passing on sensitive information to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), with a Delhi court saying her actions caused a "severe security threat".

Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma gave her the maximum sentence for the offences of spying and wrongful communication of information protected under the law, observing that an educated woman like her did not deserve any leniency.

Sixty-one-year-old Gupta, who was the Second Secretary (Press & Information) at the high commission from 2007 till her arrest on April 22, 2010, during a visit here, was held guilty yesterday under various provisions of the Official Secrets (OS) Act.

After passing the sentence, the court granted bail to Gupta to allow her to appeal against the conviction and the sentence.

She was suspected by Indian intelligence agencies of spying for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence since 2008.