Madhuri Gupta, who has earned the ignominy of being the first Indian woman diplomat to spy for rival Pakistan, has spawned wild speculation about her motives for turning into one.

“At 53, she was bored, alone and attractive. Single, but definitely one step ahead to mingle,” the man who led the operation to bust Gupta was quoted as saying by The Times.

The favourite theory, of course, is that she did it all to retaliate against the elite IFS cadre who tended to look down on the secondary cadre known as IFS-B as belonging to an inferior class.

But the scorn of the crusty IFS for promotee officers is a fact.

“Oh, she was not one of us. She must be IFS-B,” was the near universal refrain when reporters chasing the story tapped their contacts in the diplomatic corps. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?