On May 3, Pradeep Kurulkar, the Director at the Systems Engineering Laboratory of the Research & Development Establishment (Engineers), a part of the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on espionage charges.

The ATS filed a 1,800-page chargesheet against Kurulkar, alleging that he had engaged in conversations with a Pakistan-based female intelligence operative, using the alias ‘Zara Dasgupta’, regarding Indian missile systems and other classified defence projects.

The charge sheet revealed that Kurulkar and `Zara Dasgupta’ were in contact through WhatsApp as well as voice and video calls. `Dasgupta’ claimed to be a software engineer based in the UK and befriended the scientist by sending obscene messages and videos.

During investigation, her IP address was traced to Pakistan and it was revealed that she had tried to obtain classified information regarding various defence projects such as the Brahmos Launcher, Drone, UCV, Agni Missile Launcher and Military Bridging System.

Moreover, the charge sheet also mentioned that Kurulkar shared his personal and official schedules and locations with the Pakistani agent despite knowing that he was not supposed to do so.

In addition to this, it was discovered that the Apple MacBook provided to the ATS by DRDO did not belong to Kurulkar and the Maharashtra ATS is investigating whether this was a deliberate attempt to conceal important information.Kurulkar is currently in judicial custody and the case is being further investigated.