Nagpur woman booked by Punjab Police for espionage

The Punjab Police have registered a zero FIR against Nagpur woman Sunita Bholeshwar Jamgade, who was repatriated by Pakistan through the Attari-Wagah joint check-post on Saturday.

SSP Maninder Singh confirmed that the FIR was registered under the Official Secrets Act on Monday.

She would be handed over to the Maharashtra Police after preliminary investigations, he added.

On May 14, the mother of a teenager had entered Pakistan through the Kargil border in Ladakh, alerting defence and intelligence sleuths. A multi-agency probe was initiated into the “disappearance” of the woman. The woman is suspected to have crossed Suru river from Hunderman village, reportedly to meet individuals she was in contact over social media in the Gilgit-Baltistan region.

The Kargil police launched a massive search operation Jamgade went missing on May 14.

Her 15-year-old son alerted locals about her disappearance. Initially, the local police and the Army were leading the investigation, but later other intelligence agencies also joined the probe.

Sources said drones and sniffer dogs were deployed to trace her.

The Intelligence Bureau (IB) also conducted an investigation in her hometown Nagpur. Intelligence sources revealed that Sunita had married in 2007 reportedly against her parents’ wishes. She divorced in 2020 and began working as a nurse.