DRDO EMERGES AS KEY TARGET OF PAKISTAN ISI

HONEY TRAPPED

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

Critical information related to missile-launching systems used by the Indian military, including Akash and Agni, may have been compromised as Pakistan's intelligence agencies were able to snare one of India's most senior scientists, who was working with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), through a honey trap.

Pradeep Kurulkar, 59, who until recently was heading the Research & Development Establishment (Engineers), Pune, which is a DRDO laboratory, was arrested on Wednesday night by the Maharashtra AntiTerror Squad in culmination of an investigation that was started early this year.

Sources have alleged that Kurulkar, who was supposed to retire in fewer than 180 days, was entrapped by a female operative of Pakistan's intelligence agency sometime last year. He was at the level of "Outstanding" scientist equivalent to the rank of Lieutenant General of the Indian Army and Additional Secretary in the Indian government.

As per DRDO's hierarchy, "Emeritus" ranked scientists are at the top, followed by "Distinguished" scientists and then come the "Outstanding" scientists. A scientist in DRDO has to progress from the level of "Scientist B", which is the most junior position, until he reaches "Scientist G" level, after which he is promoted to "Outstanding".

As per claims by officials, after establishing a formal relationship with Kurulkar whom she initially described as a "mentor", the operative started sharing personal details and titillating images over WhatsApp which was responded to by Kurulkar. After "enough" of such images, video calls and messages were exchanged over a period of months, the said operative revealed the real purpose of reaching out to the scientist and started demanding details about the projects that he was working on.