Pune: DRDO scientist Pradeep Kurulkar was attracted to the Pakistani Intelligence Operative, who used the alias 'Zara Dasgupta', and chatted with her about Indian missile systems among other classified defence projects, the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra police said in its 1,837-page chargesheet which it filed against the tainted DRDO scientist arrested in May this year.
The charge sheet was submitted in a special court by the ATS on June 30. Kurulkar, the director of one of the labs of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Pune, was arrested on May 3 under the Official Secrets Act and lodged in Yerwada jail in Pune in judicial custody. As per the ATS charge sheet, Kurulkar was in contact with the Pakistani intelligence agent from June 2022 to December 2022.
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The Pakistani agent used the names 'Zara Dasgupta' and Juhi Arora on WhatsApp and voice and video calls. It is learnt that 'Dasgupta' claimed to be a software engineer based in the UK and befriended Kurulkar by sending him obscene messages and videos. The ATS has traced the IP address of the woman to Pakistan.
The Pakistani agent tried to get classified and sensitive 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.
He chatted with her 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. Just before the DRDO initiated an internal probe after his activities were found to be suspicious, Pradeep Kurulkar blocked Zara's number in February 2023.
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.
