ISRO Espionage Conspiracy Case- Former DGP Siby Mathews Granted Anticipatory Bail By Sessions Court

A Sessions Court in Kerala on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to former DGP Siby Mathews in the ISRO espionage case.

Special CBI Judge Krishna Kumar has reserved the order in the petition filed by Siby Mathews last week.

This comes ten days after a group of other accused in the matter were granted anticipatory bail by the Kerala High Court. 

The former DGP had preferred an anticipatory bail application before the Thiruvananthapuram Sessions Court after being arrayed as accused in a case registered by CBI alleging conspiracy to frame former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan in an espionage case of 1990s.

The Sessions Court had heard both sides elaborately before passing the order. During the proceedings, the petitioner had submitted that he had no role in interrogating the former scientist during the investigation since the matter was handed over to the CBI within two days of the arrest. 

However, the CBI had opposed the application stating that since the accused was an influential person, his custodial interrogation was inevitable for the ongoing investigation. 

Former scientist Nambi Narayanan and Maldivian national Mariyam Rasheeda had also impleaded as respondents in the matter, strongly opposing the application. 

The hearing went on for days before the Court came to the conclusion. 

Background:

The espionage case, which had hit the headlines in 1994, pertained to allegations of transfer of certain confidential documents on India's space programme to foreign countries by two scientists and four others, including two Maldivian women.

The case had caught attention in October 1994, when Maldivian national Rasheeda was arrested in Thiruvananthapuram for allegedly obtaining secret drawings of ISRO rocket engines to sell to Pakistan.

Narayanan, the then director of the cryogenic project at ISRO, was arrested along with the then ISRO Deputy Director D Sasikumaran, and Fousiya Hasan, a Maldivian friend of Rasheeda.

The 79-year-old former scientist was later given a clean chit by the CBI after a thorough investigation. He then approached seeking legal action against the Intelligence and Kerala Police officers who had a hand in implicating him in the espionage case. However, this was dismissed on the ground that no action was required to be taken against them.

Therefore, he moved the Apex Court against the High Court's order. It accepted Narayanan's plea that the authorities, who were responsible for causing such a 'harrowing effect' on his mind, should face 'legal consequences'.

Therefore, apart from directing the State to cough up a compensation worth 50 lakhs to Narayanan, the Apex Court appointed an enquiry commission headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice DK Jain on September 14, 2018 to probe the angle of a larger conspiracy in fabricating the espionage case against the former scientist.

Over a period of almost two-and-a-half years, the panel headed by Justice Jain examined the circumstances leading to the arrest. The three-member investigation panel submitted its report in a sealed cover to the apex court earlier this year.

Thereafter, the Supreme Court directed the CBI to conduct a probe and decide on further action based on the contents of the enquiry report.

At this juncture, the CBI charged 18 former police and Intelligence Bureau officials with several allegations of implicating Narayanan and subjecting him to custodial torture.

Several of these officers had approached the Kerala High Court seeking anticipatory bail in the matter. The Court had accordingly allowed the applications to former Gujarat DGP RB Sreekumar, two former Kerala Police officers S. Vijayan and Thampi S. Durga, and a retired IB official PS Jayaprakash.