Nishant Agarwal
Nishant Agarwal, a former engineer at BrahMos Aerospace Limited, has been acquitted of the major espionage charges that led to his arrest in 2018. He had earlier been accused of leaking sensitive defence information to operatives linked to Pakistan.
A trial court had handed him a 14-year sentence for allegedly using computer systems to pass on classified material in violation of the IT Act and the Official Secrets Act. In a major reversal, the higher court has now overturned these serious charges.
The only offence that remains is the possession of official documents on his personal laptop—an act for which he was given a three-year sentence. Since Agarwal has already spent more than that duration in custody, he is now set for immediate release.
The verdict brings closure to a case that drew national attention due to the sensitive nature of the documents involved.
Agarwal was arrested in October 2018 in a joint action by Military Intelligence (MI) and the Anti-Terrorism Squads of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. At the time, he worked in the technical research division of BrahMos Aerospace, the Indo-Russian venture that produces the BrahMos missile system.
During the investigation, officials recovered confidential BrahMos-related material from his personal devices, which was found to be a breach of the company’s security rules.
How Pakistani handlers allegedly targeted him
Officials also uncovered how Agarwal was allegedly trapped through social engineering using multiple online identities. A key figure was a woman operating under the name “Sejal,” who was part of an online network known for manipulating Indian defence personnel.
According to testimony, Sejal persuaded Agarwal to click on links she shared and install three applications on his laptop in 2017: Qwhisper, Chat to Hire, and X-trust. These apps were later identified as malware capable of extracting data from his device—data that included classified BrahMos documents.
Investigators also found conversations on LinkedIn, where Sejal posed as a recruiter from Hays Aviation in the UK, expressing interest in hiring him.
A trial court had handed him a 14-year sentence for allegedly using computer systems to pass on classified material in violation of the IT Act and the Official Secrets Act. In a major reversal, the higher court has now overturned these serious charges.
The only offence that remains is the possession of official documents on his personal laptop—an act for which he was given a three-year sentence. Since Agarwal has already spent more than that duration in custody, he is now set for immediate release.
The verdict brings closure to a case that drew national attention due to the sensitive nature of the documents involved.
Agarwal was arrested in October 2018 in a joint action by Military Intelligence (MI) and the Anti-Terrorism Squads of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. At the time, he worked in the technical research division of BrahMos Aerospace, the Indo-Russian venture that produces the BrahMos missile system.
During the investigation, officials recovered confidential BrahMos-related material from his personal devices, which was found to be a breach of the company’s security rules.
How Pakistani handlers allegedly targeted him
Officials also uncovered how Agarwal was allegedly trapped through social engineering using multiple online identities. A key figure was a woman operating under the name “Sejal,” who was part of an online network known for manipulating Indian defence personnel.
According to testimony, Sejal persuaded Agarwal to click on links she shared and install three applications on his laptop in 2017: Qwhisper, Chat to Hire, and X-trust. These apps were later identified as malware capable of extracting data from his device—data that included classified BrahMos documents.
Investigators also found conversations on LinkedIn, where Sejal posed as a recruiter from Hays Aviation in the UK, expressing interest in hiring him.
