R Madhavan's 'Rocketry' shown at Cannes: All you need to know about Nambi Narayanan's life

Bollywood actor R Madhavan's upcoming biographical movie, Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, is selected for a premiere at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival 2022. The upcoming film is based on the life of Nambi Narayanan, a former scientist and aerospace engineer of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Rocketry depicts Narayanan's struggle for justice after being falsely accused of espionage. What really transpired in the life of Nambi Narayanan? Here's everything that you need to know.

Nambi Narayanan's fight for truth and justice

1994

Nambi Narayanan was booked by the Kerala police for leaking defence secrets to two alleged Maldivian Defence Intelligence Service officers, as per BBC. The officials in their report claimed that the ISRO scientist leaked highly confidential 'flight test data' about rocket and satellite launches. Narayanan wasn't the only scientist who was accused in the case. Reportedly, two other scientists were alleged of selling the information for millions in exchange.

In his memoir, Narayanan revealed spending about 50 days in prison. He recalled that during his time in jail, officers from the Intelligence Bureau tortured him to implicate his boss AE Muthunayagam who at the time was the director of LPSC. Upon his refusal, the IB officials interrogating his case beat him brutally, which led him to collapse and be hospitalised. Narayanan, in the book, expressed feeling let down and disappointed by ISRO, as the firm chose not to interfere with the legal case and did not resort to defending him.

1996

After a thorough investigation by the CBI, Nambi Narayanan was proven not guilty of espionage and the charges against him were dismissed.

1998

The Supreme Court in April also dismissed the case freeing Narayanan of the false accusations.

2018

The Supreme Court appointed a three-member panel to probe the illegal arrest of Narayanan and the heinous torture he incurred in the 'ISRO spy scandal. The court also ordered the government of Kerala to award Rs 50 lakh in compensation to the scientist for being mentally tortured and jeopardising his career. However, the Kerala government decided to give him Rs 1.3 crore as compensation.

2021

The Supreme Court of India ordered CBI to thoroughly investigate the 'ISRO spy scandal' and the police officers who were involved in the conspiracy.

Image: Instagram/@adityara0, Twitter/@ActorMadhavan