NAGPUR, Dec. 5 -- Nishant Agarwal has a word of advice for professionals searching for job opportunities online. "Be extremely vigilant. Don't fall for false promises or online enticements." The 34-year-old award-winning scientist speaks from bitter experience. A former scientist with India's BrahMos cruise missile programme, Nishant was released from the Nagpur Central Jail on Tuesday evening, after being cleared of spying for Pakistan and "cyber terrorism". First arrested in 2018, the charges against Nishant were serious: he was accused under Section 5(1)(d) of the Official Secrets Act for allegedly transferring sensitive information from the BrahMos computer system to his personal laptop when posted in Hyderabad. He was then accused of being honey-trapped via online jobs portal, LinkedIn, by a user who allegedly embedded malware in his personal laptop. This attracted charges of "cyber terrorism" under Section 66F of the Information Technology Act. But on Tuesday, Nishant was a free man, bowing briefly at the prison gates before stepping out. A day earlier, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court had set aside the life term he had been awarded by a trial court in 2024. By then, Nishant had been jailed for seven years - except for a 14-month period when he was released on bail - after his arrest from the BrahMos centre in Nagpur in 2018. "Through all the darkness, besides constant fear of social alienation, there was one thing that never died, and that was hope," said Nishant's wife, Kshitija, 30. "We faced all kinds of emotional and financial distress but we never lost hope." Kshitija was nine months' pregnant when her husband was convicted by the trial court on June 3, 2024. Their son was born just two weeks after the verdict, even as Nishant remained behind bars, after completing six years in custody. "I told my son that Papa will come home soon," said Kshitija, her eyes welling up. "He is too young to understand what we went through, but we waited every day for this moment." Nishant's new reality is yet to sink in. Accompanied by his father-in-law, Ramesh Gupta, the young scientist spoke softly but with quiet resolve to a select group at the Nagpur Press Club on Wednesday evening. "Finally, justice has been delivered to me and my family." He paused, and added, "My inner feeling always told me I was innocent." Originally from Roorkee in Uttarakhand, Nishant was a gold medallist throughout his education. He graduated with a B Tech degree from NIT-Kurukshetra and is an IIM-MBA holder with research training from IIT-Roorkee. Young, ambitious and with the world at his feet, Nishant earned a DAAD-WISE scholarship in Germany, and joined BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited (BAPL) in 2013. His annual reports consistently as "very good" or "outstanding". Nishant's father-in-law, Ramesh Gupta, a retired joint director with the Madhya Pradesh Agriculture Department, was at the prison gates to receive him on Tuesday. "Now, at least, I will be able to sleep peacefully. I couldn't sleep properly for the last seven years," said the 70-year-old, his voice trembling after the two men embraced. Gupta, who lives in Bhopal, visited Nishant in jail more than once every month - a ritual he faithfully followed throughout his incarceration. "People back home kept their distance from us. Due to the stigma of 'spying', they looked at us differently. Those years were a nightmare," Gupta recalled. As he left the Nagpur jail, Nishant literally, and figuratively, turned his back on a dark chapter, but his mind will likely keep returning to that moment when he accepted the first of a few friend requests from LinkedIn users to explore employment opportunities overseas. According to investigators, Nishant had broken a confidentiality undertaking he had signed with BAPL by accepting these friend requests, thus disclosing his identity. These LinkedIn accounts, it was later discovered, operated out of Pakistan and the links shared by them contained data-stealing malware, attracting charges of "cyber terrorism". Denying these charges, Nishant's lawyer had told the court that an account named "Sejal Kapoor" had approached his client on LinkedIn. He had sent his resume to the account, and upon being asked, downloaded three applications after verifying what he believed to be their authenticity. The lawyer said Nishant had also accepted friend requests from "Neha Sharma" and "Pooja Ranjan" as he was simply exploring overseas job opportunities. During the investigation, it was allegedly found that external devices had been connected from time to time to the BrahMos computer system used by Nishant. This system, the chargesheet stated, contained several secret files relating to the BrahMos missile. Some of these files were allegedly found on Nishant's personal laptop. Senior advocate Sunil Manohar, however, submitted that there was no evidence to show that his client had illegally copied classified files. The material found on his client's laptop related only to the project he had worked on during his posting in Hyderabad, he argued. On Monday, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High court delivered a 49-page judgment, setting aside the trial court's verdict. It held that the prosecution had failed to prove any "mens rea" - guilty intention - to compromise national security. The court, however, upheld the lesser conviction under the Official Secrets Act, for unauthorised possession of official documents on his personal device. On this count, it was a three-year sentence Nishant had already served. His father, Dr Pradeep Agarwal, a retired joint director of medical education in Uttarakhand and now a professor of forensic medicine in a private medical college, said simply: "I can only thank the judiciary and the lawyers. It's finally over. I don't know how we survived these years." Nishant knows he will have to start rebuilding his life. "I am still battling depression," he admitted, "but I won't waste any time. I will start looking for work." For now, he is looking forward to being reunited with family. He and his father-in-law have left for Bhopal, where his in-laws live. From there, he will travel to Roorkee, his hometown, where his wife Khitija, their 18-month-old son and his parents are waiting for him....