DRDO espionage case: Consent for voice layer, psychological analysis not required, ATS tells court

Last month, the ATS had submitted two applications before the court, seeking Kurulkar’s consent for his “polygraph test” and “voice layer and psychological analysis” tests.

But Kurulkar had denied his consent for conducting both the tests. His lawyer Rhishikesh Ganu had argued before the court that “carrying out these tests separately was not necessary” as the prosecution has alleged the communication with the woman was through mobile phone.

Also, referring to Supreme Court judgments, Ganu had argued that compelling the accused to undergo these tests would “violate his fundamental rights enshrined under Articles 20 and 21 of the Constitution of India”.

Prosecution lawyer Vijay Fargade said, “We are not pressing for a polygraph test as it requires consent of the accused. But we made a submission to the court today (Friday) in writing that for the voice layer and psychological analysis test, consent of the accused is not required. It is not going to bring on record any material that will prejudice the court about the accused.”

Meanwhile, the ATS filed a charge sheet against Kurulkar on June 30. A copy of the charge sheet was given to his lawyer Ganu on July 7. “Prosecution has not shared copies of certain documents that were submitted to the court along with the charge sheet. These are said to be confidential documents. We filed an application before the court today (Friday) seeking copies of these documents required for preparing our defence. The court has sought the prosecution to file its reply,” said Ganu. The court will now hear the matter on August 2.

The ATS has also named a Pakistani operative who identified herself as Zaradas Gupta as co-accused in this case. The probe revealed that Kurulkar was allegedly in constant touch with ‘Zara’ through “WhatsApp messages, and voice and video calls”, and shared sensitive information with her. The ATS probe also revealed that a “Gmail” address, belonging to a user in Pakistan, was used for communicating with Kurulkar.

As per the chargesheet, Kurulkar had chats with ‘Zara’ on WhatsApp about “BrahMos, Agni 6, Rustom (a medium altitude long-endurance unmanned air vehicle), Surface to Air Missiles (SAM) and Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAV), Drone projects” of the DRDO, along with “Quadcopter, DRDO duty chart, Meteor missile, Rafael, Akash and Astra missile, MBDA” and a private Indian defence company executive.

Kurulkar is currently under judicial custody and lodged in the Yerwada jail. He had played a key role in several strategically significant projects of the DRDO, including the nuclear-capable Agni missile and Mission Shakti — which was an anti-satellite missile test — in addition to several other missiles and strategic defence systems.