CBI files charge sheet in 1994 ISRO spy case

CBI has filed a charge sheet naming former DGP Siby Mathews, former deputy director of IB RB Sreekumar and SP KK Joshua as accused. The probe agency is investigating the role of Kerala police officers in framing ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan in the case.

Thiruvananthapuram:The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a charge sheet in the 1994 ISRO espionage case where it has named former DGP Siby Mathews, former deputy director of IB RB Sreekumar and SP KK Joshua as accused. The Supreme Court ordered a CBI probe into the role of Kerala police officers in framing ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 espionage case. The Supreme Court bench also asked the CBI to file a status report on its investigations in three months.

The 79-year-old Narayanan waged a legal battle against the Kerala police officers who accused him of being a Pakistani spy in 1994. It was alleged that confidential documents on India's space program were allegedly transferred to foreign countries. The top court had directed the Kerala government to pay Rs 50 lakh compensation to Narayanan for causing him immense humiliation. The ISRO spy case surfaced in 1994 when Narayanan was arrested on charges of espionage along with another senior official of ISRO, two Maldivian women and a businessman.

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A total of 18 people including top Kerala police and intelligence officials are named accused in the case. The CBI had held them responsible for Narayanan's illegal arrest. S Vijayan was the then Pettah CI and was listed as the first accused in the case. The then Pettah SI Thampi S Durgadath was the second one to join the list. Former Thiruvananthapuram City Police Commissioner BR Rajeevan was the third accused. Former DIG Siby Mathews is the fourth and Dy SP KK Joshua is the fifth accused.

Narayanan had maintained that Kerala police fabricated the case and the technology he was accused of stealing in the 1994 case did not even exist at the time. The CBI in its charge sheet stated that the accused had forged documents against the officers involved in the espionage case. It also maintained that scientist Narayanan faced custodial torture. On the other hand, PS Jayaprakash, a retired Deputy Central Intelligence Officer has filed an anticipatory bail plea in the Kerala High Court against the Central Bureau of Investigation's move, which made him an accused in 1994 ISRO espionage case.

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A bench of Justice K Haripal ordered not to arrest him till Friday and the court will again consider the petition tomorrow. The High Court also sought the CBI's view on his petition. The retired Deputy Central Intelligence Officer approached the court just after CBI submitted the FIR in a Thiruvananthapuram court. While hearing, the counsel for the petitioner submitted, "The petitioner was only a middle-level officer who was part of the team that was helping the Kerala police in the investigation. He did not take part in Nambi Narayanan's interrogation or arrest. He only interrogated Mariam and D Sasi Kumaran, the former space scientist.

He interacted with Fauzia Hassan, another Maldivian woman just one time. Other than that, he was not connected with the episode. He has not even met Nambi Narayanan and had no reason or occasion to do anything against him. Arraigning him and harassing him after over two decades is an abuse of process of law."

(with inputs from agencies)

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