The Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh Police arrested an engineer working with BrahMos, Nagpur unit, for spying. The suspect has been identified as Nishant Aggarwal. Sources told Mail Today that Aggarwal was apprehended on Monday morning after the UP ATS conducted raids at his residence. The anti-terror agency also seized some material which is being examined.

"Few months back, a BSF jawan was arrested and during investigation we came across three fake Facebook IDs which were being operated by Aggarwal. He works as an engineer. Our investigation has confirmed that the chat on Facebook was from Pakistan-based IDs," said Aseem Arun, Inspector-General, UP ATS.

"Apart from Nagpur, raids were also carried out in Agra and Kanpur. Sensitive information, which was not supposed to be in his possession, has been recovered from his personal computer," added the officer.

According to sources, it is suspected that Aggarwal was passing on information about the BrahMos missile system to Pakistan.

He had been working on the weapon for the last four years. BrahMos is a medium-range ramjet supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarine, ships, aircraft or land.

It is the fastest cruise missile in the world and is the product of a joint venture between the Russia's NPO Mashinostroyeniya and India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The ATS is also probing if this was a case of honey-trapping as Aggarwal was allegedly in contact with two women with Pakistan IP addresses.

"Whether he was paid for the information and if yes then how he was paid is also under investigation. Supposedly he was offered a job also, but we are in the process of verifying this information," said a source. Aggarwal is a resident of Roorkee in Uttarakhand. Two other suspects are also under scanner, according to police sources.

(With inputs from Kumar Abhishek in Lucknow)