HC flays Govt in ISRO espionage case
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Kochi: Kerala High Court on Monday rejected the Kerala government order closing of a long-pending file relating to a recommendation by the CBI for action against three police officials in ISRO espionage case way back in 1994.
On a plea filed by former ISRO scientist, the Bench also asked the government to reconsider its decision not to take disciplinary action against the three police officers who initiated the spy case.
The officials who were freed from the CBI-recommended punishment by the government, in an order by the Home Department dated June 29, 2011, include Siby Mathews; the then Circle Inspector (Special Branch), S. Vijayan; and the then Superintendent of Police, K.K. Joshua.
The case had destroyed the careers of senior ISRO scientists Nambi Narayanan.
The ISRO spy case surfaced in October 1994 when two Maldivian residents, Fousia and Mariam Rasheeda, alongwith two senior ISRO scientists and a businessman were accused of espionage. The next month, they were arrested.
Despite the case attracting a lot of media attention, the Supreme Court had absolved all the accused and let them free in December, 1997.
The case also had other repercussions and saw the downfall of the then Kerala Chief Minister K. Karunakaran in 1995.
The state government had paid recently Rs 10 lakh to Narayanan an interim relief after the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission.
