Madhuris J&K friends under scanner

When Dr Champa Sharma received a phone call from her Islamabad-based friend,Madhuri Gupta,about a month ago,she was excited.

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When Dr Champa Sharma received a phone call from her Islamabad-based friend,Madhuri Gupta,about a month ago,she was excited. She was hearing from a college friend after 25 years and she had promised to visit her. Little did she then realise that the call was going to change her and her familys life soon.

While Madhuri Gupta,Second Secretary in Indian High Commission in Islamabad,is in police custody on espionage charges,Dr Champa Sharma and her husband Dr Khem Raj Sharma are having to deal with a barrage of questions from various quarters,including the J& K Police,about the familys ties with the diplomat. The doctor couple is also being quizzed about the purpose of Guptas visit last month. While a decision about them will be taken by the investigating agencies concerned,the couple in view of their residing in an area under our jurisdiction is under police surveillance, said Nowshera SP R K Bhat.

Gupta spent two days from March 29 with the couple. She had herself driven a car with a Pakistan number plate to Sunderbani all the way from Islamabad. Another common friend,Dr Prem Lata,too dropped in by flight from Delhi. She (Gupta) had driven the car through Wagah with Islamabad written on its number plate. As she reached Sundarbani,an officer from Military Intelligence visited us and asked about the car and its owner. She showed him some documents and the officer left after having a cup of tea with us, said Dr Khem Raj,who runs a clinic here after retiring as medical superintendent of Rajouri District Hospital in 2004.

Dr Champa Sharma,who passed out from Lady Hardinge Medical College,Delhi in 1979,said she came in contact with Gupta through classmate Prem Lata,who now runs a clinic in Delhi. Gupta was Prem Latas classmate in school,she recalled.

After passing out from Lady Hardinge College,we had no contact with Madhuri except that once she visited us on her way to Srinagar 25 years ago. At that time,were posted at Ramban, she recalled.

It was in the last week of March that the couple received a call from Gupta saying that she along with Prem Lata wanted to visit them for two-three days. It was a pleasant surprise to hear her after nearly 25 years, said Dr Champa Sharma. As we knew nothing about Pakistan,we only asked her about the developments in Islamabad and its weather, said Dr Khem Raj,adding that basically the friends chatted about their college days. On March 31,she along with Prem Lata wanted to go to Jammu for shopping and we hired a taxi for them. They returned by evening and next morning,Madhuri left for Islamabad, he said.

She had no access to highly classified info: Govt

NEW DELHI: The government Thursday said arrested diplomat Madhuri Gupta did not occupy a position in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad that involved access to highly sensitive information.

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MoS for External Affairs Preneet Kaur told the Lok Sabha that the MEA official had been passing information to Pakistani Intelligence agencies but maintained that her position did not allow her access to highly classified material. The official is now cooperating with us in our inquries, Kaur added. She,however,added that more details could not be divulged at this stage for reasons of national security. ENS