On Tuesday, the Gujarat High Court stayed the arrest of former DGP R B Sreekumar in connection with the 1994 ISRO espionage case.
The Special Crime Unit of the Central Bureau of Investigation had on June 17 lodged an FIR against 18 cops, including Sreekumar, for wrongly implicating an ISRO scientist based in Kerala.
The FIR was filed on direction of the Supreme Court which had taken into consideration an inquiry report submitted by Justice (retired) DK Jain inquiry commission.
“We have filed the anticipatory bail application after the CBI registered the FIR and the high court has stayed the arrest besides issuing notice to the central agency,” said Suhel Tirmizi, advocate for Sreekumar.
ISRO espionage case
Trivandrum police had registered a complaint against Maldivian national Mariyam Rashida for overstaying in India in 1994. A month later, another case was lodged against Rashida and one Fauzia Hassan under the Official Secrets Act, 1923, for spying against ISRO. A probe then threw up names of ISRO scientists S Nambi Narayanan and D Sasikumaran, alleging their connivance in the spy ring.
On request of Kerala DGP, Central Intelligence Bureau (CIB) deputed its officers from Delhi, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram to assist the Special Investigation Team appointed to probe the case. At the time, Sreekumar was deputed at the intelligence department in Kerala and he had interrogated Sasikumaran and submitted a report to Mathew John, the then Joint Director of the Intelligence Bureau in Kerala. However, he had never met Narayanan.
Later, the case was transferred to the CBI which submitted a closure report to the court which it duly accepted. The closure report had concluded that a false case had been registered against the scientists and recommended that the central and state governments take steps against the erring police officials. In November 1999, the central government issued a charge sheet against Sreekumar and other police officials but all were exonerated of the charges.
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