A photo of a man was recently shared on social media with some users claiming that he was Nishant Agarwal, an alumnus of IIT Ropar and aerospace engineer at Brahmos, who was sentenced to life in prison for becoming a spy for the Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
However, an investigation by the PTI Fact Check Desk found was the person in the photo was Abhey Singh, a self-styled holy man who claims to be a former aerospace engineer from IIT Bombay, and is now popular as 'IITian Baba'. Singh as wrongly identified as ex-BrahMos Aerospace engineer Nishant Agarwal, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2024, for spying for Pakistani's spy agency ISI. The photo was shared on social media with a false claim.
The social media claims emerged soon after news channels interviewed the 'IITian Baba' at the ongoing Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj, where he claimed that he had done aerospace engineering from IIT Bombay.
Claim
An X (formerly Twitter) user shared on January 13 a photo of a man claiming that he was Nishant Agarwal, a former engineer at Brahmos, who was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of spying for Pakistan's ISI.
Here is the link and archive link to the post with over 120k views, and below is a screenshot of the same:
Investigation
The Desk ran the photo through Google Lens and found a similar claim made by a Facebook user. Here is the linkand archive link to the post.
The Desk ran the photo through Google Lens and found a similar claim made by a Facebook user. Here is the link and archive link to the post.
On further scanning the search results, we found the original video published by News18 on January 12, 2025, from which the viral screengrab was taken.
Here is the link to the YouTube video, and below is a screenshot of the same:
The Desk watched the video in which the man identified himself as Abhey Singh and claimed that he completed aerospace engineering from IIT Bombay, later went into photography and then left everything for spirituality.
Singh revealed that he was born in Haryana and spent four years studying aerospace engineering at IIT Bombay. After that, he went into the "arts side" and pursued a Masters in Design.
In the next part of investigation, the Desk conducted a customised keyword search on Google to find out Nishant Agarwal, as mentioned in the viral social media posts.
The search results led the Desk to a report by Hindustan Times on June 3, 2024, which stated that Nishant Agarwal, working as a BrahMos Aerospace engineer, had been sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of spying for Pakistan's ISI. The report also mentioned that he had studied at National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, and was not an IIT-Ropar graduate, as mentioned in the viral claim.
Here is the link to the report, and below is a screenshot of the same:
The Desk also compared the image of the viral 'IITian Baba' with that of Nishant Agarwal. The comparison confirmed that the two were different individuals.
During the investigation, the Desk found another post by the same X user on January 14, a day after he shared the viral post. In this post, the user clarified that the earlier post was a response to a tweet validating godmen by stating that even IITians become godmen. "It's meant to highlight that IITians become ISI agents too," the user added, along with the link to a Hindustan Times report on Nishant being sentenced to life imprisonment.
Here is the link to the post, and below is a screenshot of the same:
In the next part of investigation, the PTI Fact Check Desk reached out to the public relations department of IIT Bombay to verify the claim made by "IITian Baba" about his graduation from the institute.
Falguni Banerjee, Public Relations Officer of IIT Bombay, confirmed that Abhey Singh, popularly known as "IITian Baba" following his visit to the Mahakumbh, is indeed an IIT Bombay graduate. She also verified that Singh pursued aerospace engineering at the institute from 2008 to 2012.
Subsequently, the Desk concluded that Abhey Singh, aka 'IITian Baba', was falsely identified as ex-Brahmos engineer Nishant Agarwal.
Claim
Photo shows IIT Ropar alumnus and ex-Brahmos engineer Nishant Agarwal, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for spying for Pakistan's ISI.
Fact
Photo shows Abhey Singh, who claims to have done aerospace engineering from IIT Bombay, and the photo is a screengrab from his interview to News18 on January 12. Nishant Agarwal was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2024.
Conclusion
Multiple social media users shared a photo, claiming that it showed Nishant Agarwal, an alumnus of IIT Ropar and former Brahmos engineer, who was sentenced to life imprisonment on espionage charges. In its investigation, the Desk found that the man in the photo was Abhey Singh, a self-styled holy man who claims to have aerospace engineering from IIT Bombay. The photo was shared on social media with false claims.
(This story was originally published by PTI, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective)
