After Pradeep Kurulkar’s ouster under espionage charges, Makarand Joshi to head DRDO facility in Pune
Dr Makarand Joshi on Thursday assumed charge as the Director of the Research and Development Establishment (R&DE) Engineers, a key Pune-based facility of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), a statement from the agency said. The position did not have a full time incumbent since the ouster of Pradeep Kurulkar who is facing espionage charges.
Joshi is a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University, the USA, and had joined the facility in August 2000. “He is a pioneer in establishing the R&DE as an authority in the development of technologies, processes and products in composites,” said the DRDO statement.
Kurulkar (59), was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) on May 3 on the charges of espionage and wrongful communication with Pakistan-based intelligence operatives in a suspected case of honey trap. Until a few days prior to his arrest, Kurulkar was the Director of the R&DE and was reassigned to DRDO’s Armament Combat Engineering Cluster office in Pune in an internal transfer due to the then ongoing internal probe against him by the DRDO’s vigilance wing.
Kurulkar, who has been placed under suspension since his arrest, was due to retire in November from the rank of Scientist H or ‘Outstanding Scientist’ —which is the second highest rank within the DRDO hierarchy. Since Kurulkar’s internal transfer around mid-April, the charge of the Director of the R&DE was additionally assigned to another senior DRDO functionary in Pune. Kurulkar is currently in judicial custody in Yerawada Central Prison.
The R&DE, established six decades ago, is a premier systems engineering laboratory responsible for indigenous development of various engineering systems for all the three wings of the Indian defence forces. The facility has developed and delivered combat engineering systems like military bridging, mine-warfare, launchers and ground support systems for weapons programmes, field defence and NBC collective-protection systems.
