Bombay High Court Grants Bail To Ex-BrahMos Engineer Booked For Spying For ISI

Justice Anil S Kilor of the Nagpur bench held that prima facie, there is nothing to suggest that Aggrawal committed the alleged acts with intention.

“it is case of the prosecution that it is a sort of honey trap. Moreover, prima facie, there is no material to suggest that the alleged act was committed by the applicant with intention”, said the court.

The court noted that Aggrawal has been in jail for more than 4 years and 6 months and the maximum punishment in this case would be 14 years.

Agarwal was a senior systems engineer with Brahmos Aerospace and was involved in missile projects. He was arrested in 2018 near Nagpur by the ATS and the Military Intelligence on charges of passing classified information about the projects to ISI.

He is booked under relevant sections of the IPC, the Information Technology Act and Sections 3 (penalties for spying), 4 (communications with foreign agents to be evidence of commission of certain offences), 5 (wrongful communication, etc., of information) and 9 (attempts, incitements) of the Official Secrets Act, 1923.

According to the charge sheet, secret and restricted files were found on Aggarwal’s laptop. Further, a software was also found using which the classified information in his laptop was transferred to foreign countries and anti-social elements, the prosecution has alleged.

In 2022, the High Court had rejected his bail application with liberty to file another if the trial does not progress in six months. Thus, he filed the present application citing no progress in the trial.

According to the prosecution, this is a case of honey trap where officers are lured towards indulging in illegal espionage activities. The court noted that the prosecution has not alleged that there is danger to the security and safety of the State if the accused is released on bail.

Over the period of nine months, only six witnesses were examined, the court noted adding that most of the witnesses have not turned up for testifying.

The prosecution told the court that 11 witnesses are left to be examined and court noted that every adjournment is of minimum one month as the witnesses are from Uttar Pradesh.

Thus, the court concluded that the trial is not likely to begin in the near future.

There is no material to suggest that the accused committed the alleged act with intention, the court said.

Thus, the court granted him bail on PR Bond of Rs 25,000/- with a solvent surety of the same amount.

Case no. – Criminal Application (BA) No. 161 of 2023

Case Title – Nishant s/o Pradeep Aggrawal v. State of Uttar Pradesh

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 196