HC denies bail plea of ex-DRDO director in honey-trap espionage case

Pradeep Kurulkar, who was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on May 3, 2023, may abscond if released on bail, the a single-judge bench of justice Shivkumar Dige said

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of former Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientist Pradeep Kurulkar, who is accused of sharing confidential information with a Pakistani intelligence operative.

HC denies bail plea of ex-DRDO director in honey-trap espionage case

Kurulkar, who was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on May 3, 2023, may abscond if released on bail, the a single-judge bench of justice Shivkumar Dige said while rejecting his bail application.

Kurulkar, 60, was arrested by the ATS in a suspected honey-trap espionage case following a complaint lodged by the defence research establishment.

According to the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) charge-sheet, investigators recovered “explosive” chats between the scientist and a woman linked to the Pakistani intelligence establishment who used multiple fake identities to interact with him online. Among the names she used were Zara Dasgupta and Juhi Arora – accounts under these identities were created on messaging platforms using two separate phone numbers, both bearing the United Kingdom country code (+44).

At the time of the alleged exchanges, Kurulkar was serving as director (research and development) at the DRDO. The ATS charge-sheet alleged that he shared confidential information with the woman in an attempt to cultivate an intimate relationship with her. The scientist discussed details related to strategic defence systems, such as the Meteor missile project, the BrahMos project, Rafale-linked weapon systems, Akash and Astra missile programmes, and the Agni-6 missile launcher project in which he was involved, the ATS alleged.