Bombay High Court quashes life sentence of ex-BrahMos engineer for spying

Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has set aside the life sentence given to former BrahMos Aerospace engineer Nishant Agrawal, convicted in an espionage case, saying he had not acted against national interest.

The court, however, upheld his conviction for negligence.

In June last year, a sessions court here awarded life imprisonment to Nishant Pradeepkumar Agrawal, former engineer with BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd, arrested in 2018 on the charge of spying for the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI.

While partly overturning his conviction, the HC said the prosecution brought nothing on record to show that he had done anything to threaten the "unity, integrity, security or safety of India" or to strike terror in society.

A division bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Pravin Patil on Monday cleared Agrawal of the major charges under the Information Technology Act and the Official Secrets Act (OSA), and set aside his life sentence.

But the high court upheld Agarwal's conviction and three-year jail sentence under section 5(1)(d) of the OSA for `negligence and failure to take reasonable care of sensitive information in one's possession.' Agarwal, however, is entitled to get a set-off for the period of detention he has already undergone.

The bench said the prosecution failed to prove" the circumstances or the conduct of the accused or his known character to show purpose prejudicial to the safety or interest of the state." Agarwal's Annual Confidential Report was always 'very good' and 'outstanding', and he was promoted as Senior System Engineer and awarded the Young Scientist Award due to his performance, the court noted.

It held that "none of the conduct of the appellant was ever found against the national interest or (it was shown) that he had any such intention since joining BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited".

Agrawal was part of the core team that successfully delivered 70 to 80 missiles to the Armed Forces between 2014 and 2018, the court noted.

Further, he had access to far more sensitive secret data during his tenure, yet there was no evidence he ever "tampered or misused the information available" in the office computer, said the HC.

On his communications with one "Sejal Kapoor", the court said it appears to be about a job interview. Chat logs indicated that Agrawal shared his bio-data and downloaded the applications to interview for a job in the aviation sector in the United Kingdom, the court said.

After scrutinizing and examining all the facts, they have "no hesitation" to hold that except for the offence of neglience punishable under Section 5(1)(d) of OSA "no other offence, under which the appellant was tried, is proved by the prosecution", said the judges.