ISRO case: Kerala HC dismisses plea seeking probe against Nambi Narayanan; ex-scientist welcomes decision

Justice R Narayana Pisharadi dismissed Vijayan's plea seeking probe against the former ISRO scientist.

In a major development in the ISRO espionage case, the Kerala High Court on Monday quashed a plea of a former police officer, accused of falsely implicating Nambi Narayanan in a spying case in 1994. The former cop had alleged that the ex-ISRO scientist had manipulated the CBI probe against him in a spying case by entering into land deals worth crores with CBI officials.

Justice R Narayana Pisharadi dismissed Vijayan's plea seeking probe against the former ISRO scientist. It should be noted that Vijayan and 17 other former officers of Kerala Police and Intelligence Bureau (IB) are facing a CBI probe for falsely implicating Narayanan and some others in the 1994 spying case.

A report by republicworld.com quoted Narayanan saying that he welcomed the court's decision and said, “They are trying to buy some time and stall the main investigation by the CBI. It was anticipated and no courts will accept this. He is telling that I tried to influence the CBI by buying their lands. He is trying to drag it. They're cornered. This is what they have been doing since past 27 years.”

In August, Vijayan and three others were granted anticipatory bail by the High Court in the CBI's conspiracy case against them. Besides the four, 14 others are named as accused in the case for various offences, including criminal conspiracy, kidnapping and fabrication of evidence in connection with the arrest and detention of Narayanan in the espionage case. Besides Narayanan, two Maldivian women - Mariyam Rasheeda and Fouziyya Hassan - were also arrested and detained in the case. The two women were jailed for over three years before being released.

The two Maldives nationals recently moved the CBI requesting it to place before the Supreme Court their claim for damages of Rs 2 crore from each of the 18 officers who are arrayed as accused in the conspiracy case being probed by the agency.