BrahMos scientist Nishant Agrawal, arrested by Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), was communicating with two Facebook IDs from IP addresses of Bahria town of Islamabad in Pakistan.
The two Facebook IDs were identified in the pseudo names of Roopa Khanna and Jaspreet Kaur. Agrawal's first alleged communication, intercepted on Facebook, with Pakistan women began between April 2 and 6 this year. The log-in locations of the Pakistani IDs were allegedly changed five times, sources in the security agencies said.
"Their discussions allegedly began on strike weapons to nuclear warheads and submarine ballistic missiles, developed by Lockheed Martin Space and those used by Royal Navy. The two IDs were kept 'private' in the profile settings on their Facebook page," they said.
However, to add "authenticity" of the communications with Agrawal, Khanna and Kaur held video calls with the BrahMos engineer and engaged him on topics related to design, standard operating procedure (SOP) involving various missile systems used by India and implementation of SOPs of several missiles used inside and outside India, the sources further said.
The two Pakistani women created their fake Facebook IDs and posted CVs on LinkedIn. The duo followed top scientists and allegedly tempted Agrawal, who too openly boasted about his profile on LinkedIn.The most recent chat between them was till two days before Aggarwal's arrest on Monday.
The agencies are trying to find out if any financial transaction was involved during these chats or any classified material was transmitted by the accused scientist.
"While BrahMos has completed 20 supersonic years, I got blessed with 'Young Scientist Award' from the hands of Secretary Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO, His Excellency Russian Ambassador to India and BrahMos CEO&MD," read Agrawal's last FB post.
Intelligence officials tracking the developments said the UP ATS might have jumped the gun as the State police is yet to gather any evidence to suggest any suspect transactions between the accused and the Pakistani honey trappers.
Another official said the case may head the ISRO spying case way unless prosecutable evidence is collected during the course of ongoing investigation into the case.
Agrawal was posted as a systems engineer at the Nagpur-based missile research centre of BrahMos Aerospace Private Ltd., a joint venture between India's Defence Research and Development Organisation and Russia's Military Industrial Consortium.
He was arrested in a joint operation by the ATS of Maharashtra and UP on Monday on charges of spying for Pakistan's covert agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).