ISRO spy case: No actions against police officers

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed a single-bench order that directed the state government to take action against three police officers, now retired, who had falsely implicated and arrested ISRO official S. Nambi Narayanan in a non-existent espionage case.

A divisional bench comprising acting chief justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice A.M. Shefeeq gave the order while considering an appeal filed by Siby Mathew and K K Joshua against the court order.

On October 20, previous years, a single bench of the High Court had asked the government to review its decision, which according to the court, was a challenge to the judicial system.

Reacting to the verdict, Nambi Narayanan said he will now move the Supreme Court.

"This is not a problem at all. I will now approach the Supreme Court. The Kerala High Court division bench verdict was unexpected. I see this as a temporary setback only as I am confident that ultimately the truth will triumph," Narayanan told reporters in the capital city.

The three police officers are Siby Mathews, K.K. Joshua and S. Vijayan. Nambi Narayanan had sought action against them for falsely implicating him in the case.

After the single-bench verdict last year quashing the state government's order to drop charges against the trio, the Kerala government decided against an appeal.

Thereafter, Mathews, presently the state chief information commissioner, approached the division bench and got a favourable verdict on Wednesday.

The Oommen Chandy government in 2011 had decided against taking action against the three police officers. Narayanan had moved the court against the decision and got this quashed.

The ISRO spy case surfaced in 1994 when Narayanan, along with another top ISRO official, two Maldivian women and a businessman was arrested on espionage charges.

The CBI cleared him in 1995 and since then he has been fighting a legal battle against the three police officers.