Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday demanded that a sedition case be lodged against Pradeep Kurulkar, a senior scientist of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), who was arrested by the Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS) for passing confidential information to an alleged Pakistani agent.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Chavan, an MLA from Karad South in Satara district, demanded to know why only the Official Secrets Act had been applied in the case and why the matter had not yet been transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as it was one connected with international espionage.
“It has come to light that Mr. Kurulkar, a high-ranking DRDO scientist, is being prosecuted only under the Official Secrets Act. It seems that he regularly chatted with this Pakistani agent called ‘Zara’ and even met with her during a tour abroad where the duo even watched an India-Pakistan cricket match together,” Mr. Chavan said.
