The record
Written from the 1 report below. Nothing here is unsourced.
- The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal by Uttar Pradesh's Anti-Terrorist Squad against a Bombay High Court order that had absolved former BrahMos Aerospace engineer Nishant Agarwal of major espionage charges under the Official Secrets Act.
- A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva issued notice, with the matter returnable on August 31, 2026.
- Agarwal, arrested in 2018 for allegedly leaking sensitive missile-related information to Pakistan's ISI, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Nagpur district court in June 2024, though the High Court had found him guilty only of illegally storing sensitive data.
- The case matters because it concerns alleged leaks from a key defence programme jointly run by DRDO and Russia's military industrial consortium.
What to watch next
- Supreme Court hearing listed for August 31, 2026, on the UP ATS plea against the Bombay High Court acquittal order.
- Whether the Supreme Court stays or modifies the High Court's ruling absolving Agarwal of the major Official Secrets Act charges.
- How the court reconciles the High Court's finding of illegally stored sensitive data with the trial court's life sentence for spying.
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Named India · Pakistan · BrahMos Aerospace · Defence Research and Development Organisation · Nishant Agarwal · Bombay High Court · Inter-Services Intelligence · Lucknow · Nagpur · New Delhi · Sanjay Kumar · Sanjeev Sachdeva · Supreme Court of India · Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad
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