Ex-BrahMos engineer gets life sentence for spying for Pakistan
A former engineer at BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd, Nishant Pradeepkumar Agrawal, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Nagpur court on Monday for spying for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Arrested in 2018, Agrawal was accused of leaking sensitive data about the BrahMos missile system. The court convicted him under Section 235 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), Section 66(f) of the IT Act, and various sections of the Official Secrets Act (OSA), 1923.
Additional punishments and fine for convicted engineer
District and additional sessions judge M V Deshpande declared Agrawal guilty, stating in the order that "The court sentenced Agarwal to life imprisonment and RI for 14 years under the Official Secrets Act and fined him ₹3,000," as reported by Special Public Prosecutor Jyoti Vajani. Alongside his life sentence, Agrawal is also mandated to undergo rigorous imprisonment (RI) for 14 years.
Agrawal's role in BrahMos Aerospace and espionage allegations
Agrawal served as a senior systems engineer with BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture between India's Defence Research & Development Organisation and Russia's Military Industrial Consortium. The company is known for designing, developing, and marketing the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos. The case against Agrawal involved allegations of a honeytrap and cyber activities by allurement to trap officers in illegal espionage activity. During the investigation, two Facebook accounts featuring women in their profile pictures were found to be in contact with Agrawal.
Agrawal's temporary bail and subsequent conviction
These accounts were suspected to be managed by Pakistani intelligence operatives. In April of the previous year, Agrawal was granted bail by the Bombay High Court's Nagpur bench. The bench noted that "prima facie there is no material to suggest that the alleged act was committed by the applicant with intention, and to secure the presence of the applicant at the trial, certain stringent conditions can be imposed".
