Nambi Narayanan relieved as truth behind ISRO espionage case surfaces

Thiruvananthapuram: Former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan, who endured a traumatic ordeal after being falsely accused in the notorious ISRO espionage case, expressed his relief and satisfaction that the truth has finally come to light during his lifetime.

"I knew that I had done no wrong, and when the Supreme Court has exonerated me, it is enough for me. I was sure that the truth would come out one day, and I am happy it has come during my lifetime only. I don't think I want the wrongdoers to be punished for what they did to me. I don't even want an apology from them," said Nambi Narayanan, the retired scientist, who was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2019.

He was reacting to media reports that surfaced on Wednesday detailing the charge sheet in the conspiracy behind the ISRO espionage case filed by the Delhi unit of the CBI at the CBI Court here, which said the entire case was nothing but a fabricated story.

The charge sheet revealed that the case originated based on a concocted story created by then Circle Inspector S. Vijayan.

It was further said that the team leader of the probe team, the now retired Director General of Police Siby Mathews, ordered the arrest of the veteran scientist Narayanan without any evidence.

Among the five officials named in the CBI charge sheet are Mathews, Vijayan, then Deputy Superintendent of Police K.K. Joshua, and the then Intelligence Bureau officers Jayaprakash and R.B.Sreekumar, who retired as the Gujarat Director General of Police.

This charge sheet filed by the CBI came after the Supreme Court in 2018 directed a three-member committee under retired Supreme Court judge D.K. Jain to probe if there was a conspiracy among the then police officials to falsely implicate Narayanan.

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

The CBI exonerated Narayanan in 1995, and since then he has been fighting a legal battle against Mathews and other police officials.

Mathews was later promoted to the rank of Director General of Police and took a voluntary retirement scheme, months before he was to have superannuated and become the Chief Information Officer of the state. He has since retired from that post and is now settled in the state capital city.

Incidentally, this case took place when the factional feud in Congress between the K. Karunakaran and the A.K. Antony factions led by Oommen Chandy was at its peak.

Karunakaran had to quit the office in 1995 after it was found out that he was shielding his close aide and senior police officer, Raman Srivastava, who later became the state police chief. After retirement, he served as an advisor to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan ( 2016-21).

Source: IANS