Former BrahMos scientist Nishant Agrawal was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Appellate Court earlier this year for leaking military secrets to Pakistan. Nishant worked in the missile assembly unit in Nagpur. An award-winning missile engineer, Nishant was convicted by the Appellate Court under Section 235 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. He was convicted of an offence punishable under Section 66(f) of the IT Act and various provisions of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) for leaking sensitive information relating to weapons to a foreign country.
Testifying in Nishant’s trial, UP-ATS Inspector Pankaj Awasthi said a woman named ‘Sejal’ had opened a Facebook account from Pakistan, which she used to chat with Pakistani agents and Indian targets.
Names of 3 apps used by Pakistani spies
The chats revealed that she was part of a group that shared data and tips on how to deceive Indian defence ministry officials. Awasthi told the court that on Sejal’s instructions, Agrawal clicked on a link sent by her and installed the three apps on his laptop in 2017. These apps are Qwhisper, Chat to Hire, and X-trust.
These three apps were malware that stole data from Nishant’s laptop, including sensitive information. Investigations revealed that important documents related to the BrahMos missile were found on his personal computer, violating BAPL’s security norms.
Nishant was also said to have been chatting with Sejal on Linked-in, where she reportedly posed as a recruiter from Hays Aviation in the UK and expressed interest in hiring him.
How missile engineer Nishant was arrested
Nisnant was arrested in a joint operation by Indian Military Intelligence (MI) and the Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squads (ATS) in October 2018. He worked in the technical research division of BAPL, the Indo-Russian joint venture that manufactures the BrahMos missile.
BrahMos Aerospace is a joint venture between Russia’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Military Industrial Consortium (NPO Mashinostroyenia).
Testifying in Nishant’s trial, UP-ATS Inspector Pankaj Awasthi said a woman named ‘Sejal’ had opened a Facebook account from Pakistan, which she used to chat with Pakistani agents and Indian targets.
Names of 3 apps used by Pakistani spies
The chats revealed that she was part of a group that shared data and tips on how to deceive Indian defence ministry officials. Awasthi told the court that on Sejal’s instructions, Agrawal clicked on a link sent by her and installed the three apps on his laptop in 2017. These apps are Qwhisper, Chat to Hire, and X-trust.
These three apps were malware that stole data from Nishant’s laptop, including sensitive information. Investigations revealed that important documents related to the BrahMos missile were found on his personal computer, violating BAPL’s security norms.
Nishant was also said to have been chatting with Sejal on Linked-in, where she reportedly posed as a recruiter from Hays Aviation in the UK and expressed interest in hiring him.
How missile engineer Nishant was arrested
Nisnant was arrested in a joint operation by Indian Military Intelligence (MI) and the Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squads (ATS) in October 2018. He worked in the technical research division of BAPL, the Indo-Russian joint venture that manufactures the BrahMos missile.
BrahMos Aerospace is a joint venture between Russia’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Military Industrial Consortium (NPO Mashinostroyenia).
