A white co-worker heard 78-year-old Anil Varshney  speaking in Hindi on a telephone call with his dying brother-in-law in India, an AL.com report said on Monday.

Varshney  was working as a senior systems engineer with Huntsville missile defence contractor Parsons Corporation. He filed a federal lawsuit in an Alabama court alleging systemic discriminatory actions that left him jobless in October last year, the report said.

According to the suit, Varshney on September 26, 2022 “received a video call from his elderly brother-in-law K.C. Gupta, (who) was on his deathbed in India and called to say goodbye to Varshney.” “Knowing the dire situation and that he may never have the opportunity to speak to (Gupta) again, Varshney stepped into an empty cubicle and accepted the call.”

“Before doing so, he made sure there were no classified materials or anything else pertaining to MDA’s (Missile Defence Agency) or Parsons’ work anywhere near him,” said the lawsuit, which also names Secretary of Defence Lloyd J. Austin as legal representative for the MDA.

The two spoke for approximately two minutes in Hindi when another worker interrupted Varshney and asked whether he was on a video call, which he confirmed, according to the suit that was filed in June

“(The other worker) told Varshney that the call was not allowed and Varshney immediately hung up. The call was the last time they spoke before Gupta passed away.”

The other co-worker was “intimidated by Varshney speaking in a language he did not understand” and “falsely and intentionally” reported that he “committed a security violation by revealing confidential information and/or accepting this call during a confidential meeting or with confidential information in the background”, the suit claimed.

(With inputs from PTI)

Updated: 03 Aug 2023, 06:01 PM IST