ISRO spy case: Former DGP Mathews makes shocking revelations in autobiography [Video]

Siby Mathews IPS, the former DGP and chief information officer of Kerala, has made some shocking revelations to Asianet News about the infamous 1994 ISRO spy case, for which he was the investigating officer. 

On the eve of the release of his autobiography 'Nirbhayam' (fearless) which presents his perspective of the case, Mathews has revealed that he was under pressure from a few officers of the Intelligence Bureau, including Keralites Mathew John and RB Sreekumar, to arrest Raman Srivastava IPS. Srivastava was the inspector general then and was very close to veteran Congress leader K Karunakaran who was the Chief Minister.

The Intelligence Bureau had alleged that Srivastava had tampered with evidence against the ISRO scientists. Mathews said he resisted the pressure and informed the IB officials that there was no proof Srivastava to book him. 

The mass hysteria around the case created by some media organisations forced the Karunakaran to resign and AK Anthony to take over. Following the scandal, Karunakaran and his children were kept away from the corridors of power for a long time.

Also read: Asianet News Expose: How the ISRO spy case (1994) was busted

The book also discusses suspicions that Congress (A), with the connivance of some bishops, had conspired to make Oommen Chandy the Chief Minister. It is interesting to note that Mathews released his book which gives Srivastava the clean chit, only after current Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan made Srivastava his advisor on police related policies recently.

Meanwhile, RB Sreekumar has reacted to the news by calling it "baseless" and said that he didn't put any pressure on the Kerala police to arrest Srivastava. 

In the infamous spy scandal, ISRO scientists S Nambi Narayanan and D Sasikumaran were arrested and falsely charged of leaking vital space secrets to two female Maldivian women, who were allegedly spying on behalf of the ISI. The case not only finished the careers of two of India's exceptionally brilliant space scientists but also put India’s cryogenic engine development programme, which could have saved the country millions of dollars, on hold for around 20 years. 

Nambi Narayanan is still fighting for justice. He wants the law to punish the police officers for his incarceration and also to expose the people behind the conspiracy.

• ISRO spy case
• Siby Mathews
• Raman Srivastava
• Oommen Chandy
• S Nambi Narayanan