ISRO spy case: Accused former Kerala DGP Siby Matthews granted anticipatory bail

In a significant development in the ISRO spy case, the Thiruvananthapuram District Court has granted anticipatory bail to ex-Kerala DGP Siby Matthews on Friday. Matthews has been named as the fourth accused in the CBI probe in the ISRO spy case. The FIR has named 18 ex-Kerala cops and former Intelligence officers accusing them of forging documents to endanger central government officials, including ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan.

ISRO spy case accused granted anticipatory bail

On Thursday, CBI filed an FIR at the Thiruvananthapuram Chief Magistrate Court, naming 18 persons in the conspiracy including former deputy director of IB RB Sreekumar and SP KK Joshua. The CBI has named several former Kerala cops - S Vijayan (Pettah Circle inspector), Thampi S Durgadath Pettah Sub-Inspector), V R Rajeevan (Trivandrum CP), Siby Mathews (ex-DGP) have been named as prime accused. Moreover, one of the accused PS Jayaprakash-  ex-Deputy intelligence Officer has filed for bail plea in Kerala HC and has gotten interim relief for a day.

On April 15, SC ordered an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the 1994 espionage case against former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist Nambi Narayanan and to file a report in 3 months. This transpired after an inquiry panel formed by the Supreme Court in 2018 submitted its report and the Centre pushed hard for action to be taken against those who framed Nambi. Narayanan, who had been acquitted in the case, was eventually awarded Rs 50 lakh as compensation by the Supreme Court in 2018.

ISRO spy case

The Kerala police had registered two cases in October 1994, after Maldivian national Rasheeda was arrested in Thiruvananthapuram for allegedly obtaining secret drawings of ISRO rocket engines to sell to Pakistan. Three individuals were arrested in connection with the case - then ISRO director Nambi Narayanan, then ISRO deputy director D Sasikumaran and Fousiya Hasan, a Maldivian friend of Rasheeda. Three months later i.e. in 1995, when Narayanan was released on bail, he had approached the National Human Rights Commission seeking compensation from the Kerala government, for the mental agony that he had suffered in the process. The CBI later dismissed the allegations against him as false.

Terming the police action against the former ISRO scientist "psycho-pathological treatment", the apex court had, in September 2018, said his "liberty and dignity", basic to his human rights, were jeopardised as he was taken into custody and, eventually, despite all the glory of the past, he was compelled to face "cynical abhorrence". The SC appointed a three-member panel headed by former judge D K Jain, while the Kerala government was directed to give Narayanan a compensation of Rs 50 lakh, as he underwent "immense humiliation”.