The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientist accused of sharing sensitive information with a woman—Pakistan intelligence operative on Wednesday told a Pune Court that the information he is alleged to have shared is not “confidential” but accessible to all.
Pradeep Kurulkar, the scientist with the DRDO filed a bail application before a special court.
Kurulkar was arrested in a suspected case of honey trap by Maharashtra’s Anti Terrorism Squad.
Kurulkar, who was the head of DRDO’s Research and Development Establishment (Engineers) – R & DE (E) laboratory, was arrested on May 3 under Official Secrets Act (OSA) pertaining to spying and wrongful communication with a woman PIO.
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Days after his arrest, DRDO suspended Kurulkar from service.
Kurulkar’s lawyer Rhishikesh Ganu said the bail application describes in detail how the information, which according to (ATS), is “confidential” and was shared with a Pakistani woman, was available in public domain, reported The Indian Express.
“According to the ATS, the PIO who identified herself as ‘Zara Dasgupta’ came in contact with Kurulkar through WhatsApp, telling him that she was a software engineer based in the UK,” it said.
“She allegedly lured Kurulkar by sending several obscene messages, voice notes and video calls. An investigation revealed that Kurulkar and Zara had multiple conversations between June 10, 2022, and February 24, 2023. ATS has named Zara as a co-accused in the case,” the report said.
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“The ATS has alleged that Zara wanted to procure confidential information from Kurulkar about various DRDO and defence projects in India. On the other hand, Kurulkar got attracted to her and allegedly misused his position to share confidential information with her through WhatsApp messages, voice and video calls,” the report said.
Kurulkar is currently under judicial custody in Yerwada jail.
Meanwhile, the report said the ATS has attached with the chargesheet (comprising six volumes and 1,835 pages) the details of the WhatsApp chats between the scientist and Zara, which were retrieved from his cell phone.
The chargesheet specifically mentions a chat dated October 28, 2022, as per which Kurulkar told Zara that he would show her highly confidential report on ‘Bramhos’ missile despite knowing it was highly confidential and cannot be shared over WhatsApp and email, it said.
As stated in the chargesheet, along with Brahmos, Kurulkar and Zara had WhatsApp chats on “Agni 6, Rustom (a medium altitude long-endurance unmanned air vehicle), Surface to Air Missiles (SAM), Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAV), Drone projects” of DRDO. It also includes chats on “Quadcopter, DRDO duty chart, Meteor missile, Rafael, Akash and Astra missile” and refers to a private Indian defence company executive who is a DRDO vendor and makes “robotic equipment” for Indian forces, it said.
