ISRO spy case: CBI records Nambi Narayanan's statement

Thiruvananthapuram: As the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has begun its probe into the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) espionage case, a team of officials has recorded statements from former scientist, Nambi Narayanan, at his residence in Thiruvananthapuram.

The new team of the CBI (Delhi Special Unit) arrived in the state capital on Monday to unravel the ISRO spy case that dates back to 1994.

Earlier in May, the CBI had registered an FIR First against former Kerala police officials including former Director General of Police (DGP) Siby Mathews, for allegedly framing Nambi Narayanan on false charges in the sensational ISRO spy case.

It was last week that the CBI put a pedal on the probe and registered an FIR with the Thiruvananthapuram Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court against 18 people, including top former Kerala police and IB officials, who have been charged for conspiracy and fabrication of documents.

The list of accused in the FIR includes former Gujarat DGP and then IB Deputy Director, R.B. Sreekumar, besides other police officials including S. Vijayan, Thampi S. Durgadutt, KK Joshua, who were all from the local police, who first registered the ISRO spy case.

ISRO spy case surfaced in 1994 when Nambi Narayanan was arrested on charges of espionage along with another senior ISRO official, two Maldivian women and a businessman.

Though CBI freed Narayanan in 1995, Nambi Narayanan has been fighting the legal battle against Mathews, Vijayan and Joshua for falsely implicated him.

Last year, the Supreme Court had appointed a three-member committee headed by retired judge Justice D.K. Jain to probe if there was a conspiracy among the then police officials to falsely implicate Narayanan.

In April this year, the apex court directed the CBI to conduct further investigation in the case.