ISRO espionage case: SC asks Kerala HC to reconsider bails to those who allegedly framed Nambi Narayanan

The court was making decisions on a petition filed by the CBI seeking the cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to police officials S Vijayan and Thampi S Durgadutt, as well as ex-intelligence bureau employees R B Sreekumar S Jayaprakash, by the Kerala High Court in August last year.

NewsBharati 02-Dec-2022 12:41:27 PM

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Thiruvananthapuram, December 02: In a big development, the Supreme Court of India quashed the Kerala High Court order granting anticipatory bail to some policemen and Intelligence Bureau personnel. The apex court also asked to consider the bail afresh on merits and for the accused to be protected from arrest till the HC decides on their anticipatory bail plea.

The Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) had told the Supreme Court that HC granted the bail without considering the serious charges pending against the accused. It added that the accused were a part of the international conspiracy to delay the development of technology for the cryogenic rocket engine project by India.

The court was making decisions on a petition filed by the CBI seeking the cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to police officials S Vijayan and Thampi S Durgadutt, as well as ex-intelligence bureau employees R B Sreekumar S Jayaprakash, by the Kerala High Court in August last year.

To balance the order, the court has released the accused from custody till the HC reconsiders the anticipatory bail.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) espionage case was a now-disproven espionage charge made by Indian investigation agencies in the 1990s against various personnel of the ISRO, including scientist Nambi Narayanan.

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These employees were arrested by various Indian intelligence agencies and the Kerala police on suspicion of attempting to sell classified data comprising indigenous rocket engine designs developed by ISRO. The bogus case slowed the growth of the Indian space agency by about 20 years and slowed India's scientific advances in space exploration by several decades.

Nambi Narayanan, one of the main accused in the now disproven case, pointed at the United States and its spy agency CIA in the fabrication, which prevented and delayed India's entry into multi-billion dollar commercial space missions.