Ex-BrahMos engineer Nishant Agarwal gets life imprisonment for spying for Pakistan's ISI

“The court sentenced Agarwal to life imprisonment and RI for 14 years under the Official Secrets Act and fined him ₹3,000," said Special Public Prosecutor Jyoti Vajani, according to reports. Agarwal has been convicted under section 235 of the Criminal Procedure Code for an offence punishable under section 66 (f) of the IT Act and various sections of the Official Secrets Act (OSA), said the additional sessions court judge MV Deshpande in the order.

Agarwal's arrest

Agarwal, employed in the technical research section at the missile centre in Nagpur, was arrested in a joint operation by the military intelligence and Anti-terrorism squads (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra in 2018.

He was working at the Brahmos facility for four years, when he was found guilty of leaking sensitive information to Pakistan’s ISI about the BrahMos.

The BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile developed as part of a joint venture between the DRDO and the military industrial consortium (NPO Mashinostroyenia) of Russia. The missile can be launched from land, air, sea, and underwater platforms.

Honey trap

Last April, Agarwal was granted bail by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court.

LiveLaw reported at the time that the bail was given because the court found "there is nothing to suggest that Agarwal committed the alleged acts with intention".

“It is case of the prosecution that it is a sort of honey trap," it added.

The 2018 case hit the headlines since it was ostensibly the first espionage scandal to affect BrahMos Aerospace.

According to reports, investigations revealed that Agarwal had been in contact with suspected Pakistani intelligence operatives through two Facebook accounts, Neha Sharma and Pooja Ranjan.

These accounts, traced to Islamabad, were believed to be managed by operatives of Pakistan's intelligence agency.