BrahMos scientist held on spying charge (2nd Lead)

In a shocking development, a young scientist working with the BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd (BAPL)'s missile research centre here, was arrested on Monday on alleged charges of spying for Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI and other countries, informed sources said.

Scientist Nishant Agrawal has been working for the last four years in the BAPL, an Indo-Russian Joint Venture.

Following a tip-off, he was placed under surveillance for the past few days by the Military Intelligence as well as Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra Police.

Early on Monday, the BAPL officer was arrested and has been booked under the Official Secrets Act, the sources said.

As per preliminary information, Agrawal was reportedly passing on certain highly classified information to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan as well as the USA.

However, official circles here are not aware of what kind of access to sensitive information or the security clearance levels Agrawal enjoyed in the company.

The young scientist had been living in rented home in Nagpur and married earlier this year.

Among other things, the BrahMos Missile Research Centre (BMRC) is involved in manufacturing certain critical components for the BrahMos missile, considered the world's fastest cruise missile that can be launched from land, ships, aircraft or submarines.

The Indo-Russian joint venture's recent development of the latest version of the BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile has elicited keen interest in global defence circles and several major political powers in the world.

The missile -- successfully test-fired on July 16 from the Integrated Test Range at Balasore in Odisha -- is an outcome of a joint venture of India's Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russia's NPO Mashinostroyenia Corp (NPOM), since 2011.

--IANS

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