Ex-BrahMos scientist Nishant Agarwal walks free after court clears espionage charges
Nishant Agarwal, a former BrahMos Aerospace scientist, is finally out of jail after the Bombay High Court dropped major charges of espionage and cyber terrorism against him.
The court said there was no proof he intended to harm national security.
Agarwal had been behind bars since 2018 for allegedly moving sensitive missile data to his personal laptop and unknowingly downloading malware from Pakistan-linked LinkedIn accounts.
What happened—and what's next
Agarwal was initially accused under the Official Secrets Act and IT Act, with claims he'd been honey-trapped while job hunting online—something he always denied.
Recently, the court did uphold a lesser conviction for just having official documents without permission, but since that carried a three-year sentence (and he'd already served more than that), he was released right away.
After nearly seven years in jail (minus some time on bail), Agarwal warned others about falling for online job scams like the one that got him in trouble.
His family says they're hugely relieved to have him back home.