Nishant Agarwal, a former engineer at BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd, was sentenced to life in prison by the Nagpur district court for spying for the ISI in violation of the Official Secrets Act.
Agarwal was also fined 3,000 Indian rupees and sentenced to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment.
Agarwal was found guilty under Section 235 of the Criminal Procedure Code for an offense punishable under Section 66(f) of the IT Act and several sections of the Official Secrets Act (OSA), according to the order issued by Additional Sessions Court Judge MV Deshpande.
"The court sentenced Agarwal to life imprisonment and RI for 14 years under the Official Secrets Act and fined him ₹ 3,000," said Special Public Prosecutor Jyoti Vajani.
Agarwal worked in the technical research department of the company's missile center in Nagpur. In 2018, the military intelligence and anti-terrorism squads (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra jointly arrested him.
The former BrahMos Aerospace engineer was charged with multiple offenses under the strict OSA and the Indian Penal Code. He was accused of providing the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) with sensitive technical information while being employed at the Brahmos facility for four years.
BrahMos Aerospace is a joint venture between the Defence Research and Development Organisation and the military Industrial Consortium of Russia.
The Bombay High Court's Nagpur bench granted Agarwal bail in April of last year.
