The latest news about this missing scientist is that, either he has defected to some other country (hmm..) or has been bought by terrorists.
Both ways a dangerous development. World should come together to pressure india to increase the safety of its nukes and nuclear scientists before its too late. It is dismal at the moment, to say the least. There are reports that US was pressuring india few years back to stop proliferation. I think they should be more scared and active now as well.
and where did you get this gem of 'latest news'? post a link or are you making stuff up?
“.. After exhausting the possible reasons of the mysterious disappearance — that included tiger attack or drowning in local ponds — the investigations are getting focused on the possibilities of abduction or a voluntary defection to unknown destinations…”
“…The possibility of Mahalingam’s defection or abduction has opened up hair-raising scenarios in which a fully trained nuclear scientist has either turned rogue to join a terrorist group or has decided to defect to a country with which it had a long standing clandestine interaction; spurred by fears of losing cover or after having been exposed. In both cases the consequences can be catastrophic. Mahalingam is a top nuclear scientist working in the training section — having access to highly sensitive documents on the Kaiga Nuclear Facility in the Karwar District…”
“..Personnel related safety protocol breaches are not something new to the Indian nuclear proliferation record. Just a few years ago, two top rung Indian nuclear scientists were blacklisted for engaging in proliferation activities aimed at facilitating Iranian nuclear programme. Senior US officials alleged that YSR Prasad and C Surendra — both former and successive chiefs of the state-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India — had collaborated in providing assistance to Iran in pursuit of her efforts at enrichment of Uranium to weapon grade levels; misdemeanours that earned them the slapping of US sanctions. According to US sources, Washington had informed Delhi as early as 2003 regarding suspicions of nuclear proliferation activities of ‘rogue Indian scientists’. Despite hectic Indian efforts to shake off the charges, the US authorities persistently maintained that the two Indian scientists had helped Iran in the pursuit of its nuclear ambitions; asserting that the sanctions were based on “credible information”. According to the Washington Times, the US administration let it known to the Indians that not only would it maintain sanctions on Indian scientists, but additionally consider imposing curbs on New Delhi in response to “other Indian transfers of weapons-related goods to Iran.””
Karwar: The body of L. Mahalingam, scientist of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), who died under mysterious circumstances, was cremated on Sunday at Mallapur in the presence of officials of the NPCIL and the Uttara Kannada district administration.
Mr. Mahalingam was missing six days ago from Mallapur. NPCIL authorities said he had no access to classified documents.
The body was recovered on Saturday night by Navy divers in Kali river just behind the “Nisarga” guest house of the NPCIL. A relative brought by the police to identify the highly decomposed body, refused to do so alleging that the authorities were trying to hoodwink family members by showing the corpse of someone else. He demanded a DNA test. However, Vinayak Sundari, Mahalingam’s wife, recognised the ring and clothes of her husband and identified the body.
On Sunday, doctors of the Karwar district hospital initially hesitant to conduct post-mortem at the Mallapur hospital, later conducted the procedure.
The police have sent samples of teeth, viscera, skin and hair of the deceased to the forensic laboratory at Hyderabad for a DNA test. Police said they would be able to give the exact reason of the death only after getting the post-mortem and DNA test reports. Police said they would investigate the circumstances leading to the death of the scientist once they get the medical reports.
