Nagpur: The Nagpur District and Sessions Court has sentenced Nishant Agarwal, a former scientist at BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited (BAPL), to life imprisonment for leaking sensitive information to Pakistan. Additional Sessions Judge M.V. Deshpande delivered the verdict.
Agarwal was arrested in October 2018 on charges of violating the Official Secrets Act and espionage. Investigations by the Uttar Pradesh police revealed that he had been communicating with suspected Pakistani intelligence operatives through fake social media accounts. The UP police’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) discovered that Agarwal, who worked at the Nagpur facility of the missile program, had been interacting with two Facebook profiles under the names “Neha Sharma” and “Pooja Ranjan.”
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On Monday, the court ruled that Agarwal will serve a life sentence for offenses under Section 66F of the IT Act. Additionally, he was sentenced to fourteen years of rigorous imprisonment under Section 3(1)(c) of the Official Secrets Act and three years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 3,000. In default of payment, he will serve six months of simple imprisonment under Sections 5(1)(a)(b)(c)(d) and 5(3) of the Official Secrets Act. All sentences will run concurrently, according to the court order.
