The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a chargesheet against two former DGPs, Siby Mathews of Kerala and RB Sreekumar of Gujarat, along with three other retired police officials. They are accused of allegedly framing space scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 ISRO espionage case.
The chargesheet, filed by the CBI on Wednesday, revealed that former DGP CB Mathews arrested scientist Nambi Narayanan without any proof. Narayanan was named as an accused based on the instructions of Commissioner R Rajeev and RB Sreekumar.
The chargesheet implicated five people, including former police officers and Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials. It stated that S Vijayan, then a CI, had filed a baseless case against Mariam Rasheeda, a Maldivian woman who had rejected Vijayan’s alleged sexual advances, at Vanjiyur Police Station.
According to the CBI, the IB officers illegally interrogated detainees even while they were in SIT custody. CI KK Joshua, part of the investigation team, was accused of forging documents for his superior, CB Mathews.
According to the chargesheet, former IB officer Jayaprakash physically assaulted Narayanan while he was in custody. It also revealed that there was no evidence of espionage and nothing incriminating was found at the scientist’s homes.
The accused individuals are former SP Vijayan, former DGP CB Mathews, former DGP RB Sreekumar, former CI KK Joshua, and former IB officer Jayaprakash. They face charges including conspiracy, mistreatment of women, unlawful confinement, and assault.
Three years after starting the case in 2021 as directed by the Supreme Court, the CBI has filed a chargesheet against Mathews, who led the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that investigated the 1994 Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) espionage case. Also charged are Sreekumar, who was the deputy director in the Intelligence Bureau, PS Jayaprakash from SIB-Kerala, deputy superintendent KK Joshua, and inspector S Vijayan.
The CBI has accused them of criminal conspiracy (Section 120B), wrongful confinement (Section 342), causing hurt to extract a confession (Section 330), creating false documents (Section 167), fabricating evidence (Section 193), and assaulting women (Section 354) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The federal agency filed the case on April 15, 2021, following orders from the Supreme Court. The apex court directed the investigation based on a report from a high-level committee, which recommended that the CBI investigate the involvement of police officials in the 1994 espionage case involving Narayanan.
In October 1994, Kerala Police registered two cases after Rasheeda was arrested in Thiruvananthapuram for allegedly trying to sell secret ISRO rocket engine drawings to Pakistan.
Narayanan, who was then directing the cryogenic project at ISRO, was arrested along with ISRO deputy director D Sasikumaran and Fousiya Hasan, a Maldivian friend of Rasheeda.
The CBI investigation found the allegations to be false. The Supreme Court, in September 2018, criticized the police action against the former ISRO scientist as “psychopathological treatment.” The court emphasized that his “liberty and dignity,” fundamental to his human rights, were compromised when he was arrested and faced unwarranted scrutiny despite his past achievements.
