Bhubaneswar, Feb 11 (IANS): A local court in Odisha's Balasore on Thursday awarded life imprisonment to former contractual cameraman of Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) Ishwar Behera on charges of espionage.

Balasore Additional District Judge (ADJ) court convicted and awarded life imprisonment to Behera, former cameraman at DRDO's Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur for his links with Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI.

Behera was arrested in January 2015 for passing confidential information to ISI regarding testing of missiles at the ITR.

He was convicted under Sections 121, 121A and 120B of the IPC, and 3 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act, informed Nalini Kumar Panda, public prosecutor.

"ADJ Balasore convicted accused Iswar Behera former cameraman of ITR Chandipur in CID CB Case No. 02/15, for life imprisonment, on charges of espionage," tweeted the Crime Branch of Odisha Police.

A native of Kantipur village near Baisinga in Mayurbhanj district, he was employed as a cameraperson on contractual basis in 2007 in the ITR and had been spying for ISI for the last 8-10 months.