Nagpur: Main bahut jald aunga; baccho main nahin khel pa raha abhi tumhare sath; par umeed hain tumko pyar dene main aunga. Doosre ke baccho ko to bahut khilaya, par apne hee santaan ki parvarish ko khokla kar diya. (Children I shall return, I am not there to be with you but hope to come back one day. Have been very loving to others’ kids, but have lost out on bringing up my own children.)
Such letters are the only connection to family for Nishant Agarwal, a young scientist from Brahmos Aerospace Private Limited, a part of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). He has been in solitary confinement since over two years after his arrest in a case of leaking sensitive information related to Brahmos missiles. Nishant’s words reflect his state of mind, and the hope he is clinging to.
He speak of his longing to come back home and resume normal family life and have kids. He had been married for just four months when the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh police arrested him. The couple has no children as yet.
Nishant had hit the headlines in October 2018 when the ATS arrested him under the Official Secrets Act. It is alleged that official papers of Brahmos missile were leaked through his personal computer through malware. His was an alleged case of honey trap, where Nishant interacted with Pakistani agents posing as young girls. The agents clandestinely planted the malware and took the data.
The case was transferred to Nagpur a year later, and Nishant was also shifted here.
In solitary confinement since then, Nishant has not been taken out of the cell even for appearance in court. He was only produced before the court here by UP ATS after the arrest in October 2018, says his lawyer Prakash Jaiswal. The charge-sheet has been filed but the trial has not begun. The charges are yet to be framed, for which Nishant has to be brought before the court, said Jaiswal. “A bail application has been moved in high court,” he added.
Nishant’s letter written in April shows he has not lost hope, and is preparing for a strong defence. The letter had a news clipping attached, on Nambi Narayan case of 1994, where an ISRO scientist’s arrest in a similar case was found illegal.
His contention is that the ATS case is based on the assumption or likelihood of data being leaked. There no strong technical evidence to prove it, he says. Having gone through the charge-sheet, he also wrote down points to be discussed with the lawyer, including four case laws.
Nishant notes that the FIR shows ATS intelligence report depended on the Facebook profile of Neha Sharma and Pooja Ranjan (alleged Pakistani agents posing as Indian girls). No technical data of any leakage was given to them by any forensic lab or informer. “On searching my laptop they found documents and they thought these may have been leaked by malware. The ATS thought everything happened in chat but actually could not show any chat history,” he says.
“Their (Neha and Pooja) email and Facebook IDs show Indian domain names so how would I know that they are from Pakistan,” he writes. He further says the Pooja’s IP address was of Romania and not Pakistan.
The letter also refutes ATS claims in FIR and charge sheet that Nishant asked to be forgiven for what he had done. “I did not say sorry to anyone,” he writes.
“How would I know where the 17-18 secret files are kept in lakhs of documents unless given access by a senior. The ATS did not find any external device signature belonging to me. There was no biometric scan or time signature either. It is also possible that someone else copied these documents using their external device and moved in my laptop,” the letter says.
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