The ‘framed’ spy who believes ‘God is not so bad’

The scientist has spent some of the best years of his life, 23 to be precise, in an attempt to secure ‘justice’. Falsely accused of being a spy by IB and Kerala Police and incarcerated, he was ‘honourably acquitted’ by the CBI but the 76-year old’s quest for justice has continued. His career cut short, his family made to suffer unbearable trauma and forced to live with the stigma, over four million rupees of his hard-earned money spent in pursuing the case are enough reasons to pursue questions which have remained unanswered and a suitable compensation.

While he is waiting for a closure, the case is likely to come up again before the Supreme Court on August 4, that is if it is not adjourned once again. There has been four adjournments this year alone, Nambi Narayanan wryly points out.

Narayanan believes they are dragging the case until he dies; but he believes, “God is not so bad”, and that he will not “go” unless justice is delivered.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) spy case is but a faint memory for most now, but when it surfaced, all hell had broken loose. It halted the careers of many and it led to the resignation of the then Chief Minister of Kerala, K. Karunakaran, in 1995.

It was alleged that two ISRO scientists Narayanan, who was known as junior Kalam, and D Sasikumaran, had sold rocket and space technology secrets through two Maldivian women, Mariam Rasheeda and Fauziya Hassan, to ISI. They were arrested in 1994.

The Kerala Police arrested Mariam Rasheeda for allegedly overstaying and she was said to be the key to unravelling the case. Or that is what the Intelligence Bureau and Kerala Police wanted people to believe. However, when the CBI took over the case from Kerala Police, it exonerated him of all charges. But, by then the damage was already done.

Narayanan, a Princeton graduate and Vikram Sarabhai’s blue-eyed boy, who had never met these two women found his name being dragged into the case. Glavkomos, a Russian company, in response to India’s quest in 1990 for buying cryogenic technology had offered to sell it to India at the price of ₹235 crore, which was much less than what the Americans (₹950 crore) and the French (₹ 630 crore) had quoted. It was the time that the Soviet economy had crashed and the Russian firm needed the money and they were novices in the market.

This technology was aimed at launching India into the club of nations which launch satellites into the geosynchronous orbit. That a Russian company had taken away the deal apparently angered the Americans and they were willing to do anything to scuttle the deal.

The US forced Russia to revise the deal in 1993 to disallow technology transfer to India. Narayanan’s name was dragged in the case on the alleged ground that he had struck a deal with Aleksey V. Vasin, the technology expert from Glavkomos, to sell the drawings of the Vikas engine, which in turn would reach Pakistan.

In 1998, he was cleared of all charges, but the CBI did not investigate the motive of those IB officials, under whose insistence the case took shape. The CBI closure report did name the three Kerala Police officers (Siby Mathews, K.K. Joshua and S. Vijayan) and 11 IB officers for conspiring against Narayanan in the report, but they did not go any further.

The CBI stated that “it is not their terms of reference” for this case and the motives for naming and shaming Narayanan and his colleague were never questioned.

“Why?” is one of the many questions that remain unanswered and Narayanan asks if the government should not punish those who were responsible?

Tomorrow: An interview with Nambi Narayanan