The CBI has filed a charge sheet against five individuals in connection with the alleged framing of space scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 ISRO espionage case, according to sources on Wednesday. The identities of those charged are not immediately known. This follows a 2021 case registered by the CBI after the Supreme Court directed the agency to investigate based on a high-level committee report on the role of erring police officials.
In October 1994, the Kerala police registered two cases after Maldivian national Rasheeda was arrested in Thiruvananthapuram for allegedly obtaining secret ISRO rocket engine drawings to sell to Pakistan. Nambi Narayanan, then director of the cryogenic project at ISRO, was arrested along with the then ISRO deputy director D Sasikumaran and Rasheeda’s Maldivian friend Fousiya Hasan. A subsequent CBI probe found these allegations to be baseless.
The Supreme Court, in September 2018, criticized the police action against Narayanan as “psychopathological treatment,” stating that his “liberty and dignity,” fundamental to his human rights, were compromised. Despite his illustrious past, he was forced to endure “cynical abhorrence” due to the false allegations. The apex court had earlier ordered the CBI to consider the high-level committee’s report on the matter.
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