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AN UNUSUAL STORY

Oct 1994: Maldivian national Mariam Rasheeda arrested in Thiruvananthapuram for allegedly obtaining secret drawings of ISRO rocket engines to sell to Pakistan.
Nov: Nambi Narayanan, director of cryogenic project at ISRO, arrested along with deputy director of ISRO D. Sasikumaran and Indian representative of a Russian space agency K. Chandrasekhar. S.K. Sharma, a labour contractor, and Fousiya Hasan, Maldivian friend of Rasheeda are also arrested.

THE CASE

Defense officials said the secrets pertained to highly confidential “flight test data” from experiments with rocket and satellite launches. Nambi Narayanan was among two scientists (the other being D Sasikumaran) that were accused of selling ISRO secrets for millions. However, his house seemed nothing out of the ordinary and did not show signs of the corrupt gains he was accused of. Narayanan was arrested and was lodged in jail for 50 days.

THE DIFFICULT TIMES

According to him, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and state police officials who were interrogating him in connection with the case, wanted him to make false accusations against the top brass of ISRO. But when he refused to comply, he was tortured by the officials until he collapsed and was admitted to hospital. In his statement, Narayanan had later said that his main complaint was against ISRO because it did not support him.

WHO IS NAMBI NARAYANAN?

In the early 1970s, Narayanan had introduced the liquid fuel rocket technology.
He said that the liquid-fuelled engines will be required to execute ISRO’s civilian space programmes in the future. He invited praise from then ISRO chairman Satish Dhawan and his successor UR Rao for this invention.

CONTRIBUTIONS

Narayanan along with his team, with French assistance, developed the Vikas engine. The Vikas engine is used by the ISRO to launch its rockets including the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) that took Chandrayaan-1 to the moon in 2008.
The Vikas engine is also used as the second and the four strap-on stages of Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).

FALSE CASE

Apr 1996: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) files report before a Kerala court, says espionage case is false and there was no evidence to back the charges.
May: Court accepts the CBI’s report and discharges all accused.
May 1998: Supreme Court awards compensation of ₹1 lakh to Mr. Narayanan and others, who were discharged in the case; directs the state government to pay the amount.
Apr 1999: Mr. Narayanan approaches the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) claiming compensation from the state for the mental agony and torture suffered by him.

SUPREME COURT

Apr 2017: The Supreme Court begins hearing on Mr. Narayanan’s plea, seeking action against former Kerala DGP Siby Mathews and others who had probed the matter.
May 3, 2018: Three-judge bench comprising of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud says it is considering awarding Mr. Narayanan a compensation of ₹75 lakh and restoring his reputation.

NOTES

Sep 14: SC awards ₹50 lakh compensation to 76- year-old Mr. Narayanan for being subjected to mental cruelty in the ISRO spy case.

WHEN HE WAS ASKED WHO DID THIS

THE CONSPIRACY

In 1992, India had signed an agreement with Russia for transfer of technology to develop cryogenic-based fuels. The agreement was signed for Rs 235 crore, when the US and France were offering the same technology for Rs 950 crore and Rs 650 crore respectively.
Documents show that US president George H. W. Bush wrote to Russia, raising objections against this agreement and even threatening to blacklist the country from the select-five club. Russia, under Boris Yeltsin, succumbed to the pressure and denied cryogenic technology to India.

CONSPIRACY

To bypass this monopoly, India signed a new agreement with Russia to fabricate four cryogenic engines after floating a global tender without a formal transfer of technology. ISRO had already reached a consensus with Kerala Hitech Industries Limited (Keltch) which would have provided the cheapest tender for fabricating engines. But this did not happen as the spy scandal surfaced in late 1994