International - India & World   

Indian jailed for exporting banned U.S. military goods

Washington/Houston: An Indian-origin businessman was sentenced to 35 months in jail and fined $60,000 by a U.S. court for shipping restricted military technology to Indian government entities engaged in missiles and fighter jet production and space programme.

Parthasarathy Sudarshan, 47, CEO of Cirrus Electronics, will serve about 20 months as he has already been in a federal prison since his arrest in March 2007, District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina ruled.

Sudarshan was convicted of acquiring electrical components with applications in missile guidance and firing systems in the U.S. and supplying them to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and the Bharat Dynamics Ltd between 2002 and 2006. He was also accused of acquiring microprocessors for the Tejas, a fighter jet under development in India.

The judge said Sudarshan broke the law and risked putting the nuclear weapon technology into the wrong hands.

Sudarshan was originally charged under 15 counts of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Arms Export Control Act as well as acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government. — PTI

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Oil price due to fake considerations: Iran
Qingdao refinery operational
Nepal talks inconclusive
Bill on human rights in Sri Lanka
Ceasefire deal
Pakistan discloses defence outlay
Indian jailed for exporting banned U.S. military goods

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu