In a new dimension to the sensational case of an Indian woman diplomat arrested on charge of spying for Pakistan, a high-ranking army officer and an external intelligence agency official have come under the scanner of security agencies.
The diplomat, 53-year-old Madhuri Gupta, continued to be grilled in detention on Wednesday about information she is suspected to have passed on to Pakistani intelligence agencies. She was arrested here six days ago after being called back from Islamabad where she was posted as Second Secretary.

During Gupta's interrogation and earlier surveillance, the security agencies have zeroed in on a couple residing in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir who were in regular touch through e-mail and telephone with the arrested diplomat in Islamabad. The Rajouri-based woman had gone to Pakistan several times.
Highly-placed sources said the senior army officer used to visit the Rajouri couple while he was posted in the region. He is related to the couple but his frequent visits to them have aroused suspicion of the security agencies, the sources said.

Some of the e-mails exchanged between Gupta and the Rajouri woman are part of the documents being held as evidence against the diplomat, who is in the custody of the Delhi Police Special Cell.
The role of the external intelligence agency official is also being investigated. Gupta may have been taking information from him, the sources said.
However, it was not immediately clear whether he knew the woman officer's real designs. He could be questioned by the security agencies, they said.
Gupta, who belongs to IFS-B service, is the first official of the foreign service who has been arrested for allegedly spying for Pakistan.