ISRO Spy Case: Kerala Court grants bail to ex-DGP Siby Mathews, not allowed to leave India

Former Kerala DGP Sibey Mathews, who is arraigned as the fourth accused by the CBI in the ISRO spy case was granted interim bail by the Thiruvananthapuram Sessions Court on Friday, but was asked to not leave the country without permission. The FIR has named 18 ex-Kerala cops and former Intelligence officers accusing them of forging documents to endanger central government officials, including ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan. The court in its order had directed Investigation Officer (IO) to release Siby Mathews on interim bail 'in the event of his arrest during the course of hearing of the main petition'. However, the Sessions Court in its order added that Siby Mathews will not leave India without permission of the court and he will have to fully co-operate with the investigation. On Thursday, CBI filed an FIR at the Thiruvananthapuram Chief Magistrate Court, naming 18 persons in the conspiracy including former deputy director of IB RB Sreekumar and SP KK Joshua. The CBI has named several former Kerala police officers namely- S Vijayan (Pettah Circle inspector), Thampi S Durgadath Pettah Sub-Inspector), V R Rajeevan (Trivandrum CP), and Siby Mathews (ex-DGP) as prime accused. On April 15, the Supreme Court of India had ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the 1994 espionage case against former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist Nambi Narayanan and to file a report in 3 months. This transpired after an inquiry panel formed by the Supreme Court in 2018 submitted its report and the Centre pushed hard for action to be taken against those who framed Nambi. Narayanan, who had been acquitted in the case, was eventually awarded Rs 50 lakh as compensation by the Supreme Court in 2018. What is the ISRO spy case? The Kerala police had registered two cases in October 1994, after Maldivian national Rasheeda was arrested in Thiruvananthapuram for allegedly obtaining secret drawings of ISRO rocket engines to sell to Pakistan. Three individuals were arrested in connection with the case - then ISRO director Nambi Narayanan, then ISRO deputy director D Sasikumaran and Fousiya Hasan, a Maldivian friend of Rasheeda. Three months later i.e. in 1995, when Narayanan was released on bail, he had approached the National Human Rights Commission seeking compensation from the Kerala government, for the mental agony that he had suffered in the process. The CBI later dismissed the allegations against him as false. However, the Supreme Court in 2018 termed the police action against the former ISRO scientist 'psycho-pathological treatment', and said his 'liberty and dignity', basic to his human rights, were jeopardised as he was taken into custody and, eventually, despite all the glory of the past, he was compelled to face 'cynical abhorrence'. The SC appointed a three-member panel headed by former judge D K Jain, while the Kerala government was directed to give Narayanan a compensation of Rs 50 lakh, as he underwent "immense humiliation”. Over a period of almost two-and-a-half years, the panel headed by Justice (retd) D K Jain examined the circumstances leading to the arrest. The 79-year-old former scientist, who was given a clean chit by the CBI, had earlier said that the Kerala police had 'fabricated' the case and the technology he was charged with having stolen and sold in the 1994 case did not even exist at that time. Narayanan had approached the apex court against a Kerala High Court judgement that said no action needed to be taken against Mathews and two retired Superintendents of Police K K Joshua and S Vijayan, who were later held responsible by the CBI for the scientist's illegal arrest. (Image Credits: PTI)

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ISRO Spy Case: Kerala Court grants bail to ex-DGP Siby Mathews, not allowed to leave India

On Thursday, CBI filed an FIR at the Thiruvananthapuram Chief Magistrate Court, naming 18 persons in the conspiracy including Kerala former DGP Siby Mathews

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