The CBI chargesheet in the 1994 ISRO espionage case says that the eentire episode was a conspiracy hatched by certain police officials.
The CBI had filed a chargesheet against two former DGPs, Siby Mathews of Kerala and RB Sreekumar of Gujarat, and three other retired police officials in connection with the alleged framing of space scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 ISRO espionage case.
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The chargesheet was filed in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Thiruvananthapuram on June 26.
The chargesheet stated that former CIS Vijayan fabricated the spy case and filed a case against Mariyam Rasheeda, a Maldivian native, without substantial evidence. A case was registered against her at Vanchiyoor police station without proof.
The chargesheet says: “The facts and circumstances substantiate role of accused S Vijayan, Siby Mathews, KK Joshua, RB Sreekumar and PS Jayaprakash in the registration of the false cases under the Foreigners Act and Official Secrets Act against two Maldivian ladies Mariyam Rasheeda and Fauzia Hasan, two ISRO scientists D Sashikumaran and Nambi Narayanan and two other persons K Chandrasekhar and SK Sharma (both deceased). The said accused persons played an active role in conspiracy to create false documents, leading to illegal arrests, torture, etc.”
In October 1994, the Kerala Police registered two cases following the arrest of Maldivian national Rasheeda in Thiruvananthapuram for allegedly obtaining secret drawings of ISRO rocket engines to sell to Pakistan.
Nambi Narayanan, then director of ISRO’s cryogenic project, was arrested along with ISRO Deputy Director D Sasikumaran and Fousiya Hasan, a Maldivian friend of Rasheeda.
