Prosecution filed an application on Tuesday before a special court in Pune seeking an 'in-camera' hearing of arguments over the bail application filed by DRDO scientist Pradeep Kurulkar in the espionage case. Kurulkar (59), who was arrested on May 3 under sections of the Official Secrets Act pertaining to spying and wrongful communication with a female PIO identifying herself as 'Zara Dasgupta', in a suspected case of honey trap. DRDO had suspended Kurulkar from service a few days after his arrest. On August 2, defence lawyer Rhishikesh Ganu had applied for Kurulkar's bail before the special court in Pune claiming that the information he is alleged to have shared with a PIO was not “confidential” but available in public domain. Just when Ganu made a mention of Brahmos and other missile projects today, while submitting his arguments for Kurulkar's bail, prosecution lawyer Vijay Fargade intervened and filed an application for “in-camera” hearing. Fargade claimed that the matter was sensitive and related to national security, where confidential information was allegedly shared with the PIO, so arguments over bail application of the accused should not be open to the public at large. Under such circumstances, it is necessary to hear the matter “in-camera”, Fargade said. Special judge VR Kachare asked Ganu to file a say on it and kept the matter for hearing on September 4. Meanwhile, opposing Kurulkar's bail plea, ATS had on August 25 claimed that he was holding a senior position and if bail was granted, he may likely create pressure on the witnesses, and the possibility of him contacting the PIO again could not be ruled out. However, ATS had also submitted that data deleted from Kurulakar's cellphone needed to be recovered, so he should be given bail. A cell phone seized from Kurulkar has been sent to the forensic science laboratory (FSL) in Gujarat to retrieve data from it, which he had allegedly “deleted”. According to ATS, the DRDO had received information that the accused had been illegally contacting a Pakistan-based operative. Subsequently, as per procedure, various electronic devices used by the accused, including cell phones, laptop and desktop hard discs were seized by DRDO officials on February 24, 2023 for forensic investigation. Then a probe by DRDO’s internal standing committee and a forensic report revealed that Kurulkar was allegedly in constant touch with the PIO through “WhatsApp messages, voice and video calls” and shared sensitive information with her, as stated by ATS. Seeking bail for the accused, advocate Ganu told the court that even though an FIR in this case was lodged in the first week of May, investigation into this case started on February 24, 2023 and Kurulkar has been cooperating since then. Ganu argued that information alleged to be shared by Kurulkar to the PIO was not “classified” and “incriminating”, as claimed by the prosecution. Ganu also read out forensic reports of various electronic gadgets seized from Kurulkar saying he could not tamper with them. Meanwhile, Ganu also pointed out ATS has not submitted details of Kurulkar's preliminary inquiry conducted between April 19 and April 24, 2023. Court asked the prosecution to file a stay on Ganu's application in this regard. According to ATS, 'Zara' came in contact with Kurulkar through WhatsApp, telling him that she was a software engineer based in the UK. She allegedly lured Kurulkar by sending several obscene messages, voice calls and video calls over Whatsapp. ATS has named Zara as a co-accused in this case, and has alleged that Kurulkar shared sensitive and classified information with her during multiple conversations between June 10, 2022, and February 24, 2023. In the chargesheet (six volumes and 1,835 pages) filed against Kurulkar, ATS attached details of WhatsApp chats between Kurulkar and Zara, which were allegedly retrieved from his cell phone. As per the chargesheet, Kurulkar and Zara had chatted on WhatsApp about “Brahmos, Agni 6, Rustom (a medium altitude long-endurance unmanned air vehicle), Surface to Air Missiles (SAM), Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAV), Drone projects” of DRDO. Chargesheet also includes their chats on “Quadcopter, DRDO duty chart, meteor missile, Rafael, Akash and Astra missile” and refers to a private Indian defence company executive who is a DRDO vendor, and makes “robotic equipment” for the Indian armed forces. The chargesheet specifically mentions a chat dated October 28, 2022, as per which Kurulkar told Zara that he would show her a highly confidential report on Brahmos missile, despite knowing it was highly confidential and could not be shared over WhatsApp and email. Meanwhile, the court has not yet decided the application filed by advocate Ganu seeking “confidential” documents related to Kurulkar, which were submitted by ATS in a sealed envelope.
