Parthasarthy Sudarshan, CEO of Cirrus Electronics, who was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on March 23 on charges of allegedly exporting sensitive missile technology to three Indian defence establishments in violation of US laws, was produced in a District Court in Washington this afternoon.A court official told The Indian Express that US Magistrate Justice Deborah Robinson in District Court extended Sudarshan’s custody until Thursday. Sudarshan, 46, was moved in earlier by US Marshals to Washington DC from Simpsonville in South Carolina.“He will remain in detention till Thursday (April 5),” the official said. It is only on Thursday that the hearing for his bail plea will be taken up, the official said. Sudarshan’s colleague, Mythili Gopal, who was also arrested by the FBI from Simpsonville in South Carolina on same charges, would be produced in another Washington Court on April 17, office of the US Attorney Office said. Gopal, who stays in Simpsonville along with her husband and children, was released by the South Carolina court after her arrest. The FBI in its indictment, first reported in The Sunday Express on April 1, also charged two un-named Indian Government officials including one posted in Washington, as part of the conspiracy. It alleged that Sudershan and Gopal along with two other Indians - officials of Cirrus India — exported sensitive technologies to Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Aeronautical Development Establishment and the Bharat Dynamics Limited. Under US law, these technologies are banned for export to these Indian entities and export license was required from the Department of Commerce.In a statement, Democratic Congressman Edward Markey, better known for his anti-India tirade, slammed India and the Bush Administration and urged the Congress to “reassess” the civilian nuclear deal in light of the FBI indictment. But Tom Casey, State Department spokesman, told The New York Times that this is a law enforcement matter, which began before US efforts to conclude a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement. “The arrests of these individuals are not connected to our efforts to conclude an agreement,” he said. The Justice Department charged that these three Indian defense establishments participated in a conspiracy to acquire secret weapons technology from the US with the help of Cirrus Electronics, which is based in Singapore with offices in the US and India.
