Honeytrap case: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) filed the chargesheet in Pune court against DRDO scientist Pradeep Kurulkar, who was arrested in May for providing confidential information to the Pakistani intelligence agency. Kurulkar was the director of one of the labs of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Pune. He was arrested on May 3 under the Official Secrets Act and is now in judicial custody.
In this case, ATS has filed 1800 page chargesheet. The probe agency has so far recorded the statements of 203 witnesses. In its chargesheet, the ATS has claimed that Kurulkar shared sensitive and classified information with Zara Dasgupta, who worked for the Pakistani Intelligence Organization (PIO). Kurulkar chatted with her about Indian missile systems among other classified defence projects. As per the chargesheet, Kurulkar and Zara Dasgupta were in contact through WhatsApp as well as voice and video calls.
The ATS said that Pakistani agent Dasgupta, who claimed to be a software engineer based in the UK, befriended Kurulkar by sending obscene messages and videos. During the investigation, her IP address was traced to Pakistan, the ATS said in the chargesheet, news agency PTI reported.
The Maharashtra ATS has also claimed in the chargesheet that Kurulkar had downloaded some software on his phone that contained malware and the Pakistani Intelligence Organization with the help of the software could have obtained sensitive information.
Chats between DRDO scientist and Pakistani spy:
In the first chat, Kurulkar is talking to Zara about Surface to Air Missile (SAM)
Zara- Babe I just saw are you working on it?
Kurulkar- Yes, I work on SAM too
Zara- when will it be over babe?
Kurulkar- in the next few weeks
Zara- Will you give it to the Army or the Airforce?
Kurulkar- to both Army and Air Force
Zara- So the testing and trials are over?
In another chat, Kurulkar talks to Zara about BrahMos missile-
Zara- BrahMos was also your invention babe?
Zara- It's too dangerous
Kurulkar- I have preliminary design reports (some more Kurulkar said but this information is sensitive)
Zara- Baby...
Zara- This is an air launch version isn't it
Zara- the one we discussed earlier?
Kurulkar- Yes (further shared sensitive informations)
Pakistani agent tried to get classified and sensitive information
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.
It further said that the agent Kurulkar and Dasgupta has talked about various projects, including surface-to-air missiles (SAM), drones, Brahmos and Agni Missile Launchers and UCV. As per the ATS, the two were in contact from June 2022 to December 2022.
What was shared with Pakistani spy
According to the chargesheet, the information that the ATS got from Kurulkar's mobile, showed the composition of the material used in defense project, a powerpoint presentation that was shown at a defense event in Gujarat, information on the Akash launcher, what the National Aerospace Laboratories had Some are, including the VTOL unnamed aerial vehicle system. According to the charge sheet, Pakistani spy Zara Das Gupta used to send links related to projects involving Kurulkar, and Kurulkar would then share detailed information about those projects with her.
Sensitive information was on phone
An official said that very sensitive information related to defense projects has also been added to the chargesheet, which includes information related to its testing, and design. ATS got all these things from Kurulkar's personal phone. The official further said that he cannot say yet whether Kurulkar would have given all this information to the Pakistani woman, but keeping secret information like this in his phone is a violation of the Official Secrets Act.
Shared DRDO's duty charts
According to the chargesheet filed by the Maharashtra ATS, it is claimed against Kurulkar that he had also shared information about the CEO of a private company providing defense related equipment to the Indian government with a Pakistani spy. This company is expert in making defense robots.
Along with this, Kurulkar has also shared information about many such people who are associated with DRDO. Apart from this, it has also been revealed in the investigation that Kurulkar had also shared DRDO's duty charts with the Pakistani spy.
Scientist had relations with other women in office
During the investigation, the ATS also recorded statements of two women with whom Kurulkar allegedly had relations, one of them is a vendor at DRDO's Pune office. ATS sources said that the statement of the women was recorded to prove that Kurulkar had an attraction towards women and that is why he was honey-trapped after which he shared many sensitive information with the Pakistani spy woman.
Kurulkar blocked Zara's number in February 2023
Just before the DRDO initiated an internal probe after his activities were found to be suspicious, 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 added.
About PM Kurulkar
According to DRDO website, Kurulkar is an outstanding Scientist who has taken over as Director of Research & Development Establishment (Engineers) [R&DE(E)], a premier Systems Engineering Laboratory of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
As Project Leader and System Manager for Akash Ground Systems, he has been a key member of Akash team and has played a major role in the design, development and production of Akash Launchers and mission-critical Ground Systems. His efforts have resulted in the release of production orders to the tune of 1000 crores for the Akash Launchers and other Ground Systems. As a Project Director SF, Agni Project, he steared design and development of Road & Rail versions of Launchers & Ground systems. He has played key role in it’s development with users and these efforts have resulted in release of production to orders to the tune of 250 crores for Agni project.
