ISRO spy case victim wants justice

S. Nambi Narayanan, a former scientist of India's space agency ISRO, who was arrested on espionage charges in 1994, Thursday said he wants punishment for the Intelligence Bureau official who fabricated the case against him.

Narayanan was arrested along with another top official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), two Maldivian women and a businessman.

The case which surfaced in 1994 hit the headlines Thursday when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi alleged at a press conference in Delhi that former Gujarat director general of police (DGP) R.B. Srikumar was the mastermind behind the conspiracy branding Narayanan as a traitor.

Narayanan told IANS he was discharged first by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and then by the Supreme Court in 1998.

"It's now 15 years and I am yet to get justice, even after the National Human Rights Commission gave me a clean chit," he said.

He said Srikumar was the then deputy director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) here and he colluded with Kerala Police in the interrogation and the torture inflicted on him during the probe.

"The IB had no business in the investigation and interrogation at all. Their job was to inform what they know. Srikumar was the mastermind and stood behind the scenes when his men did the job of interrogation and torture. He never ever came to the front because he knew he would be caught," said Narayanan.

"I heard Srikumar telling the media after the BJP press conference today (Thursday) that he has done no wrong. How can he say that now because his men and the Kerala Police did this to me. He can't get away from what he did and I want justice and I want him to be punished," said Narayanan, almost breaking down.