Indian Defence system has faced a big blow after a DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) scientist, identified as Pradeep Kurulkar was attracted to a Pakistani spy and chatted with her about Indian missile systems among the most classified defence projects, according to the charge sheet. The Pakistani Intelligence Operative is identified as an alias, Zara Dasgupta. Reportedly, the two were in contact from June 2022 to December 2022. ATS filed a charge sheet against DRDO scientist Pradeep KurulkarLast week in court, the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra police registered the charge sheet against the scientist, Kurulkar, who was the director of one of the labs of the Defence Research and Development Organisation in Pune. On May 3, Kurulkar was arrested for espionage under the Official Secrets Act and now, he is in judicial custody. As per the charge sheet, the accused, Pradeep Kurulkar and Zara Dasgupta were in contact through an online-texting application, WhatsApp as well as voice and video calls. However, Dasgupta claimed to be a software engineer based in the United Kingdom and befriended him by sending obscene messages and videos. During the investigation, her IP address was traced to Pakistan, the charge sheet issued by ATS said. What was the Pakistani spys planningTaking notes from Dasguptas planning, she tried to get classified and sensitive information regarding the Brahmos Launcher, Drones, Agni Missile Launcher, UCV, and Military Bridging System and whatnot, it said. The ATS 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 accused scientist chatted with her about various projects, including surface-to-air missiles (SAM), drones, Brahmos and Agni Missile Launchers, and UCV, the charge sheet added. After Kurulkars activities were found suspicious, the DRDO initiated an internal probe. Then, he quickly blocked Zaras number in February this year. Thats not it, he received a WhatsApp message from another unknown Indian number, asking “Why did you block my number” The charge sheet added that 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
