ISRO espionage case: CBI lodges FIR against Kerala cops for 'framing' Nambi Narayanan

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered an FIR against Kerala police personnel in connection with the alleged framing of space scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 ISRO espionage case. The FIR has been registered on the directions of the Supreme Court, officials said on Monday.

On April 15, the top court ordered that the report of a high-level committee investigating the role of the erring cops in the case relating to ISRO scientist Narayanan be given to the CBI. The case has now been transferred to the Central Agency for further investigation.

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 director of the cryogenic project at the ISRO Narayanan, then ISRO deputy director D Sasikumaran and Fousiya Hasan, a Maldivian friend of Rasheeda. The CBI probe however found the allegations to be 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.”