ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan’s protracted and bitter fight for justice began on November 30, 1994 — the day the Kerala police arrested him on charges of having leaked secrets pertaining to the cryogenic rocket technology to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Their case was that the ISI had used the services of two Maldivian women, Mariam Rasheeda and Fousiya Hassan, to entice Mr. Narayanan into revealing secrets to which he was privy as head of the cryogenic division of ISRO. Later, the police would name his deputy, D. Sasikumar, as an accused in the case, along with four others.
Political fallout
The case also triggered a political firestorm in the State that prompted the Congress leadership to replace then Chief Minister K. Karunakaran with his rival in the party, A. K. Antony. Though the police and intelligence bureau quizzed former Director General of Police (DGP) Raman Srivastava in the case, they stopped short of naming him an accused.
On December 3, 1994, the State government handed over the probe in the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) given its ramifications.
In 1996, the CBI filed a final report stating that the so-called ISRO spy scandal case was a fabricated one. However, in June the same year, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government of Chief Minister E. K. Nayanar formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to conduct its own investigation into the case.
Mr. Narayanan moved the Kerala High Court against the move, but the High Court deemed that the State government had the right to re-investigate the case. Mr. Narayanan then moved the Supreme Court against the High Court order.
HC order struck down
In 1998, the CBI submitted in the SC a secret report it had filed along with the final report in the case. The confidential report purportedly listed the alleged investigative flaws committed by the investigating officers, the then Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Siby Mathews, and Superintendents of Police K. K. Joshua and S. Vijayan. In 1998, the SC struck down the HC order and ordered a compensation of ₹1 lakh to all the accused.
Successive State governments failed to initiate punitive action against the officials faulted by the CBI. Instead the named officers were duly promoted and subsequently retired from service with full benefits.
In April 1999, Mr. Narayanan approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) claiming compensation from the State for the mental agony suffered by him. In March 2001, the NHRC awarded an interim compensation of ₹10 lakh and asked the State to pay damages.
In September 2012, the High Court directed the State to pay ₹10 lakh to Mr. Narayanan. In 2015, Mr. Siby Mathews moved the HC against this order. The HC upheld the State’s decision not to compensate the scientist.
The same year Mr Narayanan moved the SC demanding that it set aside the HC order. On July 10, 2018, a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Mishra considered the case for the final time and reserved orders. In its order on Friday, the court awarded ₹50 lakh as compensation to Mr. Narayanan and constituted a judicial committee to investigate the officers responsible for the scientist’s ordeal.