SK Sharma, wrongly accused in ISRO spy case, dies in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Sudhir Kumar Sharma, one of those falsely accused in the 1994 ISRO( Indian Space Research Organisation) “ Spy Case’ died early on Thursday.

The 62-year-old was undergoing palliative care for stage-4 oesophagus cancer. He is survived by wife and three daughters.

A labour contractor from Bengaluru, SK Sharma was just 34-year-old when he got enmeshed in the controversial case, and subsequently spending torturous time in police custody.

He had been a friend of Chandrashekhar’s, one of the accused in the case, who recently passed away. Chandrashekhar had sought his help to get school admission for the daughter of one of the two Maldivian women accused in the case.

Sharma didn’t know what was in store for him. A few months later, he found himself detained, and his family put under surveillance.

His life fell over in pieces. In police custody, Sharma had to endure physical and mental torture. Details of which he would later share with a TV channel.

“They hit me. Slapped and kicked. Then with cane. After half an hour, this person would vanish. Another person would come. They said, 'you passed ISRO and defence information to Pakistan'. I cried and cried but they were unrelenting. They didn't let me sit on the ground for three days," Sharma told NDTV earlier.

The case damaged his reputation, destroying his social life as those close to him kept safe distance, and his daughters were thrown out of school.

Sharma had been trying for compensation for the last 20 years. His hopes were high when another accused Nambi Narayanan was awarded Rs 50 lakh compensation for ‘unnecessary harassment” by Kerala Police.