SC orders CBI probe in conspiracy against former Isro scientist
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a probe by the central bureau of investigation (CBI) into the conspiracy behind framing former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist Nambi Narayanan in a spy case in 2014.
The bench, headed by justice AM Khanwilkar, termed the matter “serious”, and required “deeper investigation” into the role of the officers responsible for the false implication of the former space scientist.
Accepting the report by a committee appointed by the court in 2018, the bench said that CBI will be at liberty to use the contents of the report for registration of a preliminary enquiry (PE) to carry out further investigation.
Former Supreme Court judge DK Jain was entrusted with the task of holding an inquiry into the circumstances that led to framing of Narayanan, now 79, and his arrest by the Kerala police in 1994 in an espionage case in which he was exonerated two years later following a closure report by CBI.
Referring to the report, the bench, which also included justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Krishna Murari, said that the report did reveal that “everything was not hunky dory” and that the facts disclosed “acts of omission and commission by some officers of the state”.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a probe by the central bureau of investigation (CBI) into the conspiracy behind framing former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist Nambi Narayanan in a spy case in 2014.
The bench, headed by justice AM Khanwilkar, termed the matter “serious”, and required “deeper investigation” into the role of the officers responsible for the false implication of the former space scientist.
Accepting the report by a committee appointed by the court in 2018, the bench said that CBI will be at liberty to use the contents of the report for registration of a preliminary enquiry to carry out further probe.
Former Supreme Court judge DK Jain was entrusted with the task of holding an inquiry into the circumstances that led to framing of Narayanan, now 79, and his arrest by the Kerala police in 1994 in an espionage case in which he was exonerated two years later following a closure report by CBI.
Referring to the report, the bench, which also included justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Krishna Murari, said that the report did reveal that “everything was not hunky dory” and that the facts disclosed “acts of omission and commission by some officers of the state”.
The bench added that the report has recommended that CBI should register a PE and conduct a thorough investigation so that criminal liability could be fastened on some officers identified by the committee who were “responsible for the situation.”
The bench then recorded in its order that CBI will proceed in accordance with the law, and is at liberty to treat the report as a preliminary report. It said that CBI shall submit an action taken report in the court within three months to apprise the bench of the progress in the case.
Narayanan welcomed the court order. “I welcome the verdict. I would like to know who all played behind the conspiracy that delayed our cryogenic project. The technology should have been in use by 1999, but it was delayed by 15 years,” he said.