BrahMos spying case: Young achiever lured online, shared top-secret data with Pak spies
Agrawal was a part of the core team dealing with handing over 70 to 80 missiles used for the armed forces. He was part of the top-secret projects of BrahMos.
He was young and talented and full of aspirations but Nishant Pradeepkumar Agrawal, a recipient of the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Young Scientist award, wanted to make it big and make it fast.
When a Nagpur district court slapped life imprisonment on Agrawal for spying for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan, it came as a rude shock to many, especially his colleagues at the Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd.
Military intelligence and anti-terrorism squads of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh arrested Agrawal, who worked in the technical research section of BrahMos Aerospace’s missile centre in Nagpur, in October 2018. He was charged under stringent provisions of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for leaking sensitive official data to his alleged handler in Pakistan. He was just 27 when he was arrested.
The prosecution argued that Agrawal, who graduated from NIT, Kurukshetra, was “honey-trapped” over social media by two persons in the guise of girls. Official guidelines prohibit any social media use by BrahMos organisation by those deputed to handle the country’s sensitive defence-related assignments.
The controversy centred around Agrawal’s alleged contacts with ‘Neha Sharma’ and ‘Pooja Ranjan’ on social the— the suspected Pakistani intelligence operatives based in Islamabad. They offered him a job abroad and sent him a link with malware that gave them unauthorised access to official missile-related documents on their target’s digital devices.
Classified documents on the BrahMos missile system were found on the hard drives of Agrawal’s personal computers. Investigators found some of this classified data was transferred to Pakistani intelligence operatives.
Nagpur’s additional sessions court judge MV Deshpande convicted Agrawal on Monday of leaking official data, including critical information on armaments of war, to foreign powers. These offences are punishable under Section 66(f) of the IT Act and provisions of the OSA.
The court observed that the data on Agrawal’s personal laptop contained classified information which he was not allowed to obtain or retain on his laptop. In view of this, it was presumed that the act was prejudicial to the safety or interest of the nation and hence he was guilty under the OSA.
“Being a scientist in BAPL, Agrawal is required to strictly follow security protocols. He should have stayed away from using social media platforms. Yet, in spite of such circulars issued from time to time and giving an undertaking, Agrawal used social media leading to crucial data leaks. In such circumstances, it cannot be said that Agrawal did not know the protocols. His act has affected the national interest, affected unity, integrity, and sovereignty of India. In such circumstances, no leniency can be shown to him,” the judgment mentioned.
According to the prosecution, there was cyber activity by allurement to trap officers in an illegal espionage activity. This was the basis of the two Facebook accounts of women which ATS found were in touch with Agrawal. He was booked under Sections 66 (hacking, cybercrime) of IT Act, Sections 419, 420 (cheating), 467, 468 (forgery), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 121A (overawe Central or State government) of IPC along with offences under OSA.
After a trial in which 15 witnesses were examined, the session judge found that the accused had not only stored data containing secret files on his personal laptop, but also opened fake social media accounts on Meta and LinkedIn.
Further, he downloaded applications which came through another Facebook account of one of the women after which his data was exposed. "It affected the security, integrity, sovereignty, and unity of the State. Therefore, the accused is liable for punishment for offences under the IT Act and OSA", the judge said in her verdict.
The charge sheet also stated that Agrawal during his postings in Hyderabad and Nagpur copied several secret documents unauthorisedly and saved files in his personal laptop and personal hard disc. All the data pertain to BrahMos Supersonic cruise missiles used by all defence forces.
However, the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed to be innocent. The statement of the accused under Section 313 of CrPC was recorded. The defence counsel argued that Agarwal got placed in BrahMos Aerospace initially as an executive trainee based on his qualifications and thereafter, as a system engineer and senior system engineer. His work was appreciated by the authorities of BrahMos.
His senior Allen Abraham handed out pen drives having project material in an official capacity in an authorised manner to all 23 executive trainees. He made a project for the Consumer Pyramids Household Survey (CPHS) and submitted the project to his superiors. None of those files were secret, restricted or classified, the defence counsel claimed.
Agrawal was a part of the core team dealing with handing over 70 to 80 missiles used for the armed forces. He was part of the top-secret projects of BrahMos. He had these files, and documents in his official system and not on his personal electronic devices.
Agrawal, who had been out on bail for a year during the trial, was taken into police custody immediately after the court pronounced the sentence. Agrawal is likely to appeal the verdict in HC. The HC had previously criticised the delay in completing the trial, deeming it a violation of Article 21, which guarantees protection of life and personal liberty.
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