Indian court sentences BrahMos engineer to 14 years in prison for spying for Pakistan

An Indian court on Monday June 3 sentenced a former engineer at BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd to 14 years in prison for disclosing sensitive information to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency. Additional Sessions Judge M V Deshpande of the Nagpur court said Nishant Agarwal was convicted under Section 235 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for an offense punishable under Section 66 (f) of the IT Act and various sections of the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
Agarwal was also fined INR 3,000.

“The court sentenced Agarwal to life imprisonment and 14 years in prison under the Official Secrets Act and imposed a fine on him of INR 3,000,” said special public prosecutor Jyoti Vajani.

Agarwal was working at the missile center of BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd in Nagpur for the technical research section of the company. He was arrested in 2018 by the Military Intelligence and Anti-Terrorism (ATS) squads of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. Later, he was booked under the OSA and several provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

By the time of his arrest, he had already spent four years with the company and was leaking sensitive information to ISI agents based in Pakistan.

This was the first espionage scandal involving BrahMos Aerospace. According to reports, Nishant was in touch with the Pakistani agents through two Facebook accounts under the names Neha Sharma and Pooja Ranjan. These accounts were managed from Islamabad and handed over by the ISI.

Agarwal's involvement in such a spying scandal surprised his colleagues as he was a seasoned and competent researcher, having won the Defense Research and Development Organization's Young Scientists Award.

BrahMos Aerospace is a joint venture between the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and the Military-Industrial Consortium (NPO Mashinostroyenia) of Russia.

(With contribution from agencies)