ISRO Espionage Case: Kerala High Court Extends Interim Protection To Former Gujarat DGP RB Sreekumar & Other Accused

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday extended the interim protection from arrest given to former Gujarat DGP RB Sreekumar, two former Kerala Police officers, and a retired IB official in the ISRO conspiracy case once again till August 11th. The matter will be heard again tomorrow.

Justice Ashok Menon extended the relief for another day after the ASG P. Vijayakumar representing CBI informed the court that an Additional Solicitor General would be appearing in the matter. and sought time for the same. The Court accordingly listed the matter for hearing on August 5.

The Court had previously granted interim protection from arrest to former Kerala Police officers, namely R B Sreekumar, S Vijayan, and Thampi S Durga Dutt, as well as a former Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer P S Jayaprakash. These officers had moved pleas for anticipatory bail in the case against them registered by CBI. 

There are 14 others arrayed as accused in the case registered by the agency for various offences, including criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, and fabrication of evidence, under the IPC, in connection with the arrest and detention of former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 espionage case. 

Two Maldivian women, Mariyam Rasheeda and Fouziyya Hassan, were also arrested and detained in the 1994 case. These women were jailed for more than three years before they were released, and have recently moved applications in the Court opposing the anticipatory bail pleas of the accused. Advocate Prasad Gandhi appeared before the Court today on behalf of them and submitted that he has cured all the defects in the application. 

The CBI has opposed all the anticipatory bail pleas and has claimed that the false implication of Narayanan in a "concocted case" led to a delay in the development of India's cryogenic technology.

Nambi Narayanan was given a clean chit by the CBI after the Kerala Police implicated him for espionage along with two Maldivian women. Thereafter, the Supreme Court had directed the CBI to conduct a detailed probe into the officials responsible for implicating him.