Pankaj Awasthi, UP-ATS investigation officer, said in his deposition during Nishant trial that one ‘Sejal’ had set up a Facebook account from Pakistan.Using this, she chatted with Pakistani operatives and her Indian targets.
Names of the three apps that Pakistani spies used
The chats showed she was part of a group that shared data and tips on deceiving Indian defence staffers. Awasthi told the court that on Sejal’s directions, Agrawal had clicked on links sent by her and installed three apps on his personal laptop in 2017. These apps were: Qwhisper, Chat to Hire and X-trust.
These three apps were malware that stole data from Nishant’s laptop, which contained classified information. Investigations claim that crucial documents related to the BrahMos missile were found on his personal computers, violating BAPL’s security norms.
Nishant is said to have chatted with Sejal on Linked-in too, where she reportedly showed interest in hiring him, posing as a recruiter in UK’s Hays Aviation.
How missile engineer Nishant was arrested
Nisnant was arrested in October 2018 through a joint operation by Military Intelligence (MI) and the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. He was employed in the technical research section of BAPL, an Indo-Russian joint venture that manufactures BrahMos missiles.
BrahMos Aerospace is a collaborative venture between the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the military Industrial Consortium (NPO Mashinostroyenia) of Russia.
