BrahMos Aerospace engineer arrested for spying: Who is Nishant Agrawal?

An engineer, identified as Nishant Agrawal, with the BrahMos Aerospace unit near Nagpur was arrested on Monday for allegedly leaking "technical information" to Pakistan.

Nishant Agrawal was arrested in a joint operation by the Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squads (ATS) at BrahMos' Wardha Road facility, an ATS official said.

Who is Nishant Agrawal?

#Nishant Agrawal has been working in the technical research section of the missile centre for four years. He studied at the National Institute of Technology in Kurukshetra and according to reports, he was a gold medallist.

#PTI reported that Agrawal married last week.

#According to NDTV, the police are investigating whether he was "honey-trapped" by Facebook IDs in the name of women, which have been traced to Pakistan.

#"Very sensitive information was found on his personal computer. We found evidence of him chatting on Facebook with Pakistan-based IDs," said Aseem Arun, the chief of the anti-terror squad of Uttar Pradesh.

#Agrawal was living in a rented accommodation on Wardha Road since the last year, his landlord Manohar Kale told PTI.

#"He was staying with his wife here and had given his Aadhar card copy and a certificate from his employer to me while moving in," he said.

What is BrahMos Aerospace?

#BrahMos Aerospace is a joint venture between India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the 'Military Industrial Consortium' (NPO Mashinostroyenia) of Russia.

#The company was set up through an inter-governmental agreement signed on February 12, 1998, between India and Russia. The name BrahMos represents the fury of Brahmaputraand the grace of Moskva rivers.