ISRO espionage case: CBI chargesheet says ex-DGP RB Sreekumar arrested Nambi Narayanan without proof

Thiruvananthapuram:  The chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the 1994 ISRO espionage case reveals that Nambi Narayanan was named as an accused on the instructions of Commissioner R Rajeev and RB Sreekumar.

Former IB Assistant Director Vinod Kumar's statement confirms that there is no evidence of espionage in the case.

A report obtained by Mathrubhumi also includes a statement from a former Intelligence Bureau official asserting that there was no evidence to substantiate espionage charges in the case.

Last Month, the CBI filed a charge sheet against five individuals in the case. The chargesheet named two former DGPs, Siby Mathews of Kerala and RB Sreekumar from Gujarat, as well as former Intelligence Bureau officer PS Jayaprakash, former Deputy SP KK Joshua and police inspector S Vijayan.

On April 15, 2021, the apex court ordered that the report of a high-level committee on the role of erring police officials in the 1994 espionage case involving ISRO scientist Narayanan be given to the CBI.

In October 1994, Kerala police registered two cases after Maldivian national Rasheeda was arrested in Thiruvananthapuram for allegedly obtaining secret drawings of ISRO rocket engines to sell to Pakistan. Narayanan, the then director of the cryogenic project at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), was arrested along with the then ISRO deputy director D. Sasikumaran and Fousiya Hasan, a Maldivian friend of Rasheeda.

The CBI probe found the allegations to be false. In September 2018, the Supreme Court termed the police action against Narayanan as "psychopathological treatment," stating that his "liberty and dignity," basic to his human rights, were jeopardised as he was taken into custody and, despite all the glory of the past, was eventually compelled to face "cynical abhorrence."