US links Indian government agencies with arms conspiracy

The United States administration has alleged Indian government agencies for having nexus with Chief Executive Officer of a Singapore based company Cirrus Electronic Parthasarathy Sudarshan (47), who has been found guilty for violating the US export restrictions rules, as per the sources.

The US has claimed that Indian government agencies had hatched a conspiracy with Sudarshan for obtaining electronic components, which India can use in its missile guidance and firing programmes.

However, Indian Embassy in Washington has denied this allegation arguing that Indian organisations have acquired the components from Cirrus Electronics only through transparent, public and open tendering process.

A court in Washington has sentenced 35 months imprisonment and slapped a USD 60,000 fine to Parthasarathy on Monday for illegally exporting the electronic components to India that could be used in missile guidance and firing programme, as per the source.

Earlier US had imposed ‘arm export ban’ on India after it conducted Pokhran nuclear test on May 1998.

Sentencing the jail, Justice Ricardo M Urbina said that it was important that the US should have continued vigilance over sending sensitive technology to India because it could be used for developing India's nuclear weapons programme or falling into the hands of rogue nations.

Sudarshan acquired electrical components with applications in missile guidance and firing systems in the US and sent them to India with fraud certificates showing those ‘legal’ and out of ban list from 2002 to 2006, as per court stated.

‘To conceal, India’s name, the products were first sent to his company’s office in Singapore and later to India, where India’s government agencies Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and Bharat Dynamics (BDL) receive the sensitive components,’ said the Court.

The prosecutor of the court has also said that this was done for making money, while on the other hand, the India Head, Cirrus Electronic, A K N Prasad claimed, “Neither we nor Indian government has done the wrong thing.”