On June 30, Maharashtra ATS submitted a chargesheet to a special court, stating that Pradeep Kurulkar shared sensitive information about India’s missile, drone and robotics programmes with the Pakistani operative using the name “Zara Dasgupta”
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — The “honey-trapped” Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientist, Pradeep Kurulkar, expressed his intentions to reveal highly classified information about the BrahMos missile project to a female Pakistani intelligence operative, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad’s (ATS) investigation into the espionage case has revealed.
The Pakistani operative used the name “Zara Dasgupta” to interact with the scientist. Last month, the Maharashtra ATS submitted a chargesheet to a special court, stating that Kurulkar, the Pune-based scientist, shared sensitive information about India’s missile, drone and robotics programmes with the Pakistani operative.
Ever since his arrest on May 3, several pictures of Kurulkar attending RSS events and delivering lectures have gone viral. It is claimed that he was a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Congress national spokesperson Pawan Khera alleged that Kurulkar was associated with RSS for four generations. “He (Kurulkar) use to play the saxophone for 14 years for RSS, he was sanghatan mantri for 12 years for Sanskar Bharti and is the fourth generation RSS karyakarta swayamsevak. Despite being a DRDO scientist, he was visiting shakhas,” Khera said.
In its 1,837-page chargesheet, submitted on June 30, the ATS has found “explosive” chats between Kurulkar and the Pakistani operative. Kurulkar shared sensitive information with the operative “in order to establish intimate relations with her,” as submitted in the chargesheet, media reports said on Saturday.
The chargesheet further reveals that the Pakistani operative created multiple fake accounts with different names – including Zara Dasgupta and Juhi Arora – to engage with Kurulkar. The operative also used two different phone numbers, starting with the +44 London code. The police investigation reveals that in Kurulkar’s chats with ‘Zara Dasgupta,’ he talked about the Meteor missile, which is in the works at DRDO, Brahmos missile, Rafael, Akash and Astra missile systems. The scientist also talked about the Agni-6 missile launcher system which is currently in development at the DRDO. Kurulkar also shared sensitive information about DRDO’s ongoing work on the Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle, the Bharat Quadcopter, and Rustom, the medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned combat air vehicle. The chargesheet submits that the Pakistani operative and Kurulkar would preface the conversations on India’s defence with a playful “Babe.”
The chargesheet mentions the sensitive information ‘Zara Dasgupta’ sought from Kurulkar, and his responses revealing India’s defence details, it was submitted to the special court in a sealed envelope.
The chargesheet submits that Kurulkar, a married man, liked to brag about his work. In one of the chats, the operative asked Kurulkar whether the Agni-6 launcher test was successful, to which he said: “The launcher is my design babe… It was a great success.”
The chats between Kurulkar and the Pakistani operative were dated between September 2022 and February 2023.
The DRDO informed the Maharashtra ATS about its suspicions of Kurulkar’s activities and he was later arrested.
The chats appended in the chargesheet also reveal the Pakistani operative’s persistence while engaging with Kurulkar. In one chat, she asks Kurulkar, “Any new parameters or any change happens… I heard that Agni-6 work is also in progress, uska test kab karna hai (when is the test happening).” He responded, “Karenge, thoda dheeraj rakho (We will do it, have some patience).”
The chargesheet reveals that the Pakistani operative shared three e-mail ids with Kurulkar – 26sweetpanda@gmail.com, dreamgirl56@gmail.com, and common158@gmail.com. She also shared passwords for the aforementioned email ids to win his trust, media reports said.
Kurulkar, over a period of time, started sharing minutiae details of his everyday life with the Pakistani operative. The chargesheet submits that he also shared the name and details of the CEO of a private vendor working with the Indian Army, involved in manufacturing robotic equipment. “Despite knowing that an enemy nation can seek more information and specific information related to the CEO’s working place and the nature of work and the equipment he manufactured for the Armed forces, Kurulkar shared the formation with the operative,” the chargesheet said.
The chargesheet submits that the recover mobile number linked to the operative’s email id shared with Kurulkar was traced to Islamabad, and the IP address of the email id belonged to Pakistan Telecommunication Limited.
The ATS arrested Kurulkar on May 3 on espionage charges and filed a case under the Official Secrets Act 1923 and other relevant sections.
Kurulkar, as the Director of DRDO’s Research and Development Establishment (Engineers), had significant information about India’s defence. The R&D division is responsible for several important projects related to national interests, such as developing missiles etc. His field of expertise included the Design and Development of Missile Launchers, Military Engineering Equipment, Advanced Robotics and Mobile Unmanned Systems for Military Applications.
