Defence Research and Development Organisation scientist Pradeep Kurulkar was attracted to a Pakistan Intelligence Operative, who went by the pseudonym 'Zara Dasgupta', and chatted with her about Indian missile systems among other classified defence projects, stated the chargesheet filed against him. The chargesheet was filed against Kurulkar by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra police in a court last week. Kurulkar, who was the director of one of the labs of the DRDO, was arrested on May 3 under the Official Secrets Act and is now in judicial custody.
Kurulkar and 'Zara Dasgupta' were in contact through WhatsApp as well as voice and video calls, the chargesheet said, as per a PTI report.
As per the chargesheet, Dasgupta claimed to be a UK-based software engineer and befriended Purulkar by sending obscene messages and videos. During the investigation, her IP address was traced to Pakistan, the report stated.
The Pakistani agent tried to tried to get classified information regarding the Brahmos Launcher, Drone, UCV, Agni Missile Launcher and Military Bridging System, among other things, it said.
"Kurulkar, who was attracted to her, stored the classified and sensitive information of DRDO on his personal phone and then allegedly shared it with Zara," the chargesheet said.
The DRDO scientist chatted with the Pakistani agent about various projects including surface-to-air missiles (SAM), drones, Brahmos and Agni Missile Launchers and UCV, it said.
The two were in contact from June 2022 to December 2022, as per the ATS.
According to the report, Kurulkar blocked Zara's number in February this year, just before the DRDO initiated an internal probe after his activities were found to be suspicious. He soon received a WhatsApp message from another unknown Indian number, asking 'Why you blocked my number?'
The chat records also showed that he shared his personal as well as official schedules and locations with her despite knowing that he was not supposed to share them with anyone, the chargesheet said