Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi: Fifteen years before the arrest of YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra for alleged espionage, India witnessed a shocking betrayal from within its diplomatic ranks. In 2010, Madhuri Gupta, a mid-level diplomat posted at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, was arrested for leaking classified defence information to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), in one of the most high-profile honeytrap espionage cases of the decade.
A mole in the mission
The alarm was first raised in early 2010, less than two years after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Internal alerts pointed to Gupta, an Indian Foreign Service (Grade B) officer serving as Second Secretary (Press & Information). Though known for her scholarship in Urdu and her passion for Sufi poetry, intelligence signals revealed a far more dangerous double life.
Upon receiving initial reports, then-IB chief Rajiv Mathur alerted R&AW chief KC Verma and Home Secretary GK Pillai. Surveillance was extended for two weeks, during which Gupta was deliberately fed false information. When this data surfaced externally, it confirmed her as the leak.
The arrest and fallout
Gupta was summoned to Delhi under the pretext of SAARC Summit media preparations. She arrived on April 21, 2010, and was arrested the next morning at South Block by Delhi Police’s Special Cell. She was booked under the Official Secrets Act for espionage and leaking sensitive defence details.
The fallout was immediate. The name of RK Sharma, R&AW’s Islamabad station chief, was leaked to the press, effectively blowing his cover and severely compromising Indian intelligence operations in Pakistan.
A honeytrap operation
Investigations revealed Gupta had fallen victim to a classic honeytrap. She was seduced by Jamshed alias Jim, a Pakistani operative half her age, who maintained regular contact with her along with handler Mudassar Raza Rana—allegedly a batchmate of then Interior Minister Rehman Malik. They first gained her trust by sourcing a rare book by Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar.
Using a Blackberry phone and a personal computer in her residence, Gupta exchanged over 70 emails via accounts allegedly created for her by ISI agents. She expressed her desire to convert to Islam, marry Jamshed, and move to Istanbul. Her Sufi interests and emotional vulnerability were exploited to extract classified information.
Scope of the breach
Gupta reportedly compromised the identities of Indian intelligence officials posted in Pakistan, detailed High Commission staff profiles, and even hinted at “secret routes to India.” She had also travelled to Jammu and Kashmir under instructions from her handlers, attempting to access state reports and a hydroelectric project plan.
Aftermath and conviction
Initially arrested in 2010, Gupta spent 21 months in Tihar Jail before securing bail. She was formally charged in 2012 under Sections 3 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act. In 2018, she was convicted of spying for Pakistan. At the time of her death in October 2021, she was 64 and living in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan. Her appeal was still pending in the Delhi High Court.
