Nambi Narayanan, the ISRO scientist framed in a spying case, tells ThePrint he’s confident the probe panel will find enough material to implicate the wrongdoers.
Bengaluru: The committee formed by the Supreme Court last September to punish the erring police officers involved in ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan’s wrongful arrest and false implication for spying is yet to begin work.
Narayanan, 77, who was awarded the Padma Bhushan this year, has been waging a legal battle against the Kerala police officers who accused him of being a Pakistan spy in 1994, a charge he claimed unleashed a “catastrophic effect” on his career and personal life. Within two years of his arrest, the CBI had exonerated the scientist and filed a closure report in the case.
The panel formed by the Supreme Court under Justice D.K. Jain (Retired) was tasked with specifically inquiring into the role of police officers Siby Mathew, the then deputy inspector general (DIG), and two others, S. Vijayan and K.K. Joshua.
The Justice Jain Committee consists of two retired IAS officers nominated by the Union and the Kerala governments. Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan government has nominated former additional chief secretary V.S. Senthil to the panel, while the Centre has chosen D.K. Prasad.
Also read: ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan says Kalam wanted him to give up fight, but he refused
‘Waited 25 years’
Speaking exclusively to The Print, Narayanan said he was yet to be asked to depose before the commission.
“I expect that they will call me soon,” he said. “I have got an entire docket ready on the facts of the case as the officials will need a brief of the many years I have fought this case.
“I am quite confident that the commission headed by Justice Jain will find enough material to implicate the wrongdoers. I have waited 25 years to prove my innocence and this will further strengthen my case,” he added.
“The SC judgment is not standing in the way of the Rs 1 crore defamation case I have filed [in a Kerala civil court]. We are waiting for the judge to come back from leave to hear the case,” Narayanan added.
Former Kerala police chief T. Senkumar, among the officers named by Narayanan in his complaint, said he was yet to receive a call from the panel to depose. However, he pleaded innocence.
“I got involved in the case because the then Kerala Chief Minister E.K. Nayanar posted me as the investigating officer to begin fresh investigations after the case was handed back from the CBI,” he told ThePrint.
This fresh investigation was subsequently called off after the Supreme Court weighed in the favour of Narayanan and the other accused.
“He (Narayanan) is trying to confuse people about my involvement. Why did he make me a respondent in case, what is his motive?” asked Senkumar.
“If the [Justice Jain] commission gives me an opportunity to present my facts, I will submit everything I have,” he said. “Otherwise, my other officers, Siby, Joshua and Vijayan, will put across all the evidence they have on the case. We are ready when they are.”
Several attempts were made by ThePrint to contact Mathew, who retired as Kerala additional director general of police, but he remained unavailable for comment. This report will be updated when he responds.
Speaking to ThePrint, Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said the state government was hoping the Jain commission begins its probe soon.
Accused of spying for Pakistan
The so-called Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) spy case involved allegations that Narayanan and another senior ISRO scientist, D. Sasikumaran, gave out classified information about the cryogenic engine programme to Pakistan’s ISI with the help of two Maldivian nationals. There were altogether seven accused in the case.
Narayanan was at the time best known for his work on the development of the Vikas engine (cryogenic), which is used in all the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV), India’s trusted workhorse to this day. The investigation was subsequently taken over by the CBI, which filed its closure report in 1996.
Also read: The fake ‘spy thriller’ that cost Nambi Narayanan his career, life savings and self-esteem
A political tool
With the Lok Sabha elections around the corner, the ISRO spy case is now taking on a political colour.
In keeping with the Supreme Court’s September 2018 order, the Pinarayi Vijayan government gave Narayanan a compensation of Rs 50 lakh at a public event held last year in the secretariat’s Darbaar Hall.
This was seen as a message for the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), which was in office when the case broke out.
Vijayan had earlier told the media that he hoped the compensation for Narayanan could be recovered from the “erring” officials accused of framing the scientist.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in Kerala Sunday on the Lok Sabha election campaign trail, had also trained his guns on the UDF, saying, “More than two decades ago, a hardworking and patriotic ISRO scientist, Nambi Narayanan, was implicated in a false case, just because a few UDF leaders were settling political scores.
“Imagine, for their own politics, they damaged national interest, and troubled a scientist,” he added.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF), which currently runs the government in Kerala, is said to have approached Narayanan to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as a candidate of the coalition.
But Narayanan is not too keen about the offer.
“I am an engineer. I am not made of political material,” he told ThePrint.
“If you ask me to be managing director or a chief executive officer of a project, I would be happy, because all my life I have worked only on scientific projects. All I understand is PSLV, GSLV, Mangalyaan, Chandrayaan, Gaganyaan… I am not made of the mettle to handle politics,” he added.