Then PM told not to disclose US involvement in ISRO spy case: Nambi Narayanan

Thiruvananthapuram: Former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan told a Kerala court that he doubted the involvement of the US in the conspiracy for having him implicated in the 1994 espionage case.

While making a submission before the Thiruvananthapuram Principal District and Sessions Judge against the anticipatory bail plea by the former Kerala DGP Siby Mathews, Narayanan also claimed that he also shared the same with the then Prime Minister who had asked him not to disclose this to anyone lest that should ruin the good ties with the US.

Siby Mathews approached the Session court seeking protection from arrest in a case filed by CBI against him and 17 other police officers for falsely implicating Nambi Narayanan in the ISRO espionage case.

The 1994 espionage case, which had hit the headlines then, pertained to allegations of transfer of certain confidential documents on India's space programme to foreign countries by two scientists and four others, including two Maldivian women.

Besides Narayanan, the court also heard arguments on behalf of the two Maldives nationals — Mariyam Rasheeda and Fousiya Hasan — who were also arrested in the spy case along with the scientist and have now sought Rs 2 crore as damages from each of the 18 officers named in CBI's case. All three have opposed the grant of any relief to Mathews. The two women, represented by advocate Prasad Gandhi, have alleged that they suffered mental and physical torture as well as a monetary loss while they were imprisoned for more than three years in the espionage case.

They have also alleged that they were illegally arrested and kept in detention for the "personal, economic, official and political mileage" of the officers and the then Union government. The allegations were refuted by Mathews, represented by advocate V Ajakumar, who told the court that Narayanan and the two women were arrested due to the pressure of the Intelligence Bureau.

After hearing the arguments, which remained inconclusive, the court called for the case diaries of CBI on its initial probe into the case and its present probe into the alleged conspiracy by Kerala Police and IB officers, as well as the report of the committee headed by Justice (retd) D K Jain, set up by the Supreme Court to look into the entire matter. With the direction, the court listed the matter for hearing on July 16.

In his anticipatory bail plea, Mathews also claimed that cases under the Foreigners Act and the Official Secrets Act were registered against Rasheeda based on the information received from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) that she had "undesirable connections with some ISRO scientists and her activities were prejudicial to the interest and security of India."

The Supreme Court had on April 15 ordered that the report of a high-level committee on the role of erring police officials in the espionage case relating to Narayanan be given to the CBI and directed the agency to conduct further investigation on the issue. The three-member committee, headed by former apex court judge Justice (retd) DK Jain, was appointed by the top court in 2018 after acquitting Narayanan in the case. The Supreme Court had also directed the Kerala government to pay Rs 50 lakh as compensation for compelling Narayanan to undergo "immense humiliation".