Satendra Siwal: Third staffer held in seven months

New Delhi, February 4

The arrest of Satendra Siwal on espionage charges is the third case in seven months of a Ministry of External Affairs staffer being held for links to Pakistani spy agency ISI.

The Delhi Police had arrested a driver working with the MEA in November last year for allegedly passing on confidential information to his handlers in Pakistan. During interrogation, the driver said he was honey-trapped over social media by a woman who claimed she was from Kolkata. In July last year, the Ghaziabad Police had arrested a contract worker, identified as Naveen Pal, at the MEA on charges of espionage. The Ghaziabad police said it had acted on a tip-off from the Intelligence Bureau and found the accused had sent via WhatsApp several documents relating to G20 meetings being held in the run-up to the Delhi Summit in September last year.

In this case, too, Pal had confessed to having been lured into parting with information by a “woman” he encountered on social media.

The police found that though the virtual number of the “woman” was traced to Bareilly, subsequent deep analysis revealed the actual IP address to be located in Karachi. However, the most well-known case brought in public domain is that of a Grade B Indian Foreign Service Officer Madhuri Gupta, who, while being posted at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, blew the covers of all Indian intelligence officials in Pakistan as well as exposed some secret routes to India to her two “lovers”, claimed the Delhi Police Special Cell, which arrested her from the MEA headquarters in 2010.

Gupta’s confessional statement said she was honey-trapped by a Pakistani youngster at a time when she was “feeling lonely”. Arrested in 2010, Gupta was convicted and is now free after serving her sentence.