Isro spy case: SC sets aside anticipatory bail granted to accused officials

The Supreme Court on Friday set aside the anticipatory bail granted to four accused in the ISRO conspiracy and falsification of evidence case involving scientist Nambi Narayanan.

The top court has asked the Kerala High Court to re-hear the anticipatory bail pleas. The court has granted protection from arrest for a period of five weeks to allow the official to move the high court for bail.

A bench of Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar remanded the matter back to the high court.

“All these appeals allowed. Impugned orders granting anticipatory bail passed by HC are quashed and set aside. All matters are remitted back to the HC to be decided afresh on it own merits. This court had not observed anything on merits for either of the parties,” the court said.

“It is ultimately for the HC to pass orders. We request the HC to decide the anticipatory bail applications at the earliest preferably within four weeks from date of this order,” the bench said.

The accused in the case include former Kerala DGP Siby Mathews, former Gujarat ADGP RB Sreekumar and three others. Mathews was named as one of the accused for framing Nambi Narayanan, a scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 1994.

The judgement came on the CBI’s appeal against the high court order granting bail to former Gujarat DGP R B Sreekumar, two former police officers of Kerala S Vijayan and Thampi S Durga Dutt, and a retired intelligence official P S Jayaprakash.

On November 28, the Supreme Court had reserved for orders a series of appeals filed by the CBI challenging anticipatory bail granted to former police officers accused of being part of a conspiracy in an espionage case in 1994.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, for one of the petitioners, had urged the court to grant them protection from arrest if the case is sent back to the High Court.

In November, the CBI had moved the top court to challenge the anticipatory bail given by the Karnataka High Court to ex-Director General of Police (DGP) of Kerala, Siby Mathews.

WHAT IS THE NAMBI NARAYANAN CASE?

Former Isro scientist Nambi Narayanan was falsely implicated in 1994 in an espionage case and was charged with transferring confidential documents on India’s space programme to foreign countries.

Apart from Narayanan, officials had also accused five others of espionage and transferring rocket technology to foreign countries. This included another Isro scientist and two Maldivian women.

Narayanan had to spend close to two months in jail before the CBI concluded the allegations against him were false. The case was first probed by the state police and later handed over to the CBI, which found the charges to be false.