ISRO espionage case: Kerala court to hear anticipatory bail plea today

The anticipatory bail application filed by the accused in the Indian Space Research Organization espionage case, Siby Mathew and KK Joshua, will be heard today in Thiruvananthapuram Principal Sessions Court. Mathew alleged that former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan was arrested on the basis of Intelligence Bureau officer's instructions.

Thiruvananthapuram: The anticipatory bail application filed by Siby Mathew and KK Joshua, accused in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) espionage case, will be heard today in the Thiruvananthapuram Principal Sessions Court.

The petitioner Siby Mathew alleged that former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan was arrested on the instructions of the then Intelligence Bureau officer Sreekumar. The latter is the seventh accused in the case. The petitioner, while claiming complete innocence, also alleged that two Maldivian women had spied with Narayanan. He said the IB officials are fully responsible for the arrest.

Narayanan had earlier opposed the anticipatory bail plea of the accused, according to sources. Mathew, who is booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on charges of conspiracy and fabrication of documents, is alleged of torturing Narayanan the most. Earlier, he had secured an interim bail in the case. According to reports, Narayanan had moved the court as one of the respondents in the case and the CBI had recorded his statements on June 30.

Earlier on April 15, the apex court had ordered that the reports of a high-level committee, formed to probe the role of erring police officials in the case, be handed over to the CBI and the investigating agency was ordered to conduct further investigation in the case. The 1994 espionage case, involving two scientists and two Maldivian women, pertains to the transfer of certain confidential documents on India's space program to foreign countries. Narayanan, the then director of the cryogenic project at ISRO, was arrested. The others arrested in the case were Rasheeda, a Maldivian national, for allegedly fetching secret drawings of ISRO rocket engines in order to be sold to Pakistan, Fousiya Hasan, a Maldivian friend of Rasheeda, and D Sasikumaran, then Deputy Director of ISRO.

Later, the CBI held Kerala's top police officials responsible for his illegal arrest and gave Narayanan a clean chit. The Supreme Court had directed the Kerala government to give Rs 50 lakh as compensation to Naryanan.