ISRO spy case: SC notice to govt, ex-cops on Nambi’s plea

New Delhi: Supreme Court Thursday sought responses from former Kerala DGP Siby Mathews and other police officials on a plea of former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan seeking criminal and disciplinary action against them for implicating him in an espionage case in which he was discharged.

The apex court also issued notices to the CBI and Kerala Government on his petition challenging the High Court verdict which had said that no action was required to be taken against the former DGP and the two retired Superintendents of Police — K K Joshua and S Vijayan, who were held responsible by central agency for Narayanan's illegal arrest.

A bench of justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant sought their responses within eight weeks.

74-year-old Narayanan moved the apex court seeking criminal and disciplinary action against Mathews, currently Kerala's Chief Information Commissioner, and the policemen.

He has appealed against the judgement of the division bench of the Kerala High Court which had said that no action was required to be taken against the former DGP and the two retired Superintendents of Police.

Senior advocate V Giri, who appeared for Narayanan, submitted before the apex court that the petition pertained to the atrocities of the police when they had arrested the renowned scientist of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in 1994 without any justifiable reason as the same was evincible from the report submitted by the CBI.

He said the CBI had recommended taking appropriate action against the erring police officials but the Kerala government, instead of taking action, issued a notification appointing a special investigating team to probe the matter.

The counsel said that on June 29, 2011, Kerala government passed an order stating that it was neither proper nor legal to take any action against the erring officials.