Pune: A special court on Thursday framed charges for offences under the Official Secrets Act against a senior DRDO scientist, almost three years after the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) filed a chargesheet against him on June 30, 2023, in an alleged honey trap and spying case.The development paves the way for commencement of trial in the high-profile case. The DRDO scientist is facing charges of misusing his official position to leak classified information pertaining to national security to a Pakistani intelligence operative. The ATS arrested the scientist on May 3, 2023. He then held a high position in one of the DRDO labs in Pune.Special ATS Judge PY Ladekar posted the matter for next hearing on June 20 for a procedure under Section 294 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). It enables courts to allow documents that can be admitted into evidence without formal proof, provided their genuineness is not disputed by the opposing party.“The trial will commence once this procedure is over,” special public prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar told TOI. “The crux of the charges framed relates to willful, wrongful and unauthorised communication of classified and incriminating information to suspected foreign entities, namely Pakistani intelligence operative, which is prejudicial to the safety of a state and is likely to affect the sovereignty and integrity of India,” the prosecutor said.Defence lawyer Rushikesh Ganu confirmed to TOI, “The court has framed the charges. We shall wait for the prosecution to take further steps for the hearing of the case.”The delay in framing charges was primarily because of the pendency of the scientist’s plea seeking discharge from the case on grounds of legal technicalities and his attempts, in between, to secure bail from the Pune special court (rejected on Dec 7, 2023) and the Bombay high court (rejected on April 15, 2026).“The special court rejected our client’s discharge plea on Thursday before proceeding with the framing of charges,” Ganu said.The ATS had filed the chargesheet for offences under sections 3 (penalties for spying), 5 (1) (6) (a) (d) [wrongful communications of information) and 4 (communication with foreign agents to be evidence of commission of certain offences) of the Official Secrets Act.
