The microprocessors were bought for Tejas LCA project

WASHINGTON, DC: The US Department of Justice’s 31-page, 15-count indictment of the South Carolina-based electronics firm Cirrus, Inc, is mainly for the transfer of 500 i960 microprocessors for the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft, jointly developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. The microprocessors were to be used in Tejas’ navigation and weapons guidance systems.

The DOJ indictment, a copy of which is with DNA, also has edited transcripts of e-mail exchanges between the four primary “co-conspirators” — Parthasarathy Sudarshan, Mythili Gopal, AKN Prasad and Sampath Sundar. The document states that the four charged in the conspiracy took directions from ADE and the Thiruvananthapuram-based Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.

Once the deal for the Tejas aircraft was concluded, an e-mail exchange between Sundar and Sudarshan, indicated that Cirrus had also received inquiries regarding a similar opportunity “to develop WCS (Weapon Control System) for Jaguar aircraft.”

But before that deal could go on, Cirrus received a cancellation of business order in September 2004 from its Arizona-based partner which claimed that the end-user agreements presented by Sudarshan and Gopal were fraudulent and that it was considering reporting the case to the US Department of Commerce.

Sudarshan sent this e-mail to Gopal and Prasad: “On reading the e-mails from [the representative from the vendor], do not get panic. At the end of the game, it is I . . . who need to face the music... I am moving over to USA to take control on such crisis. Hence, do not fear about anything. . It is all business Games and come what may be the results,,, Detach ourselves from the results.. We concentrate on actions only.”

After this exchange, Cirrus continued to deal with Indian agencies involved in the development of the Tejas LCA, the indictment states.