Kochi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has objected to an anticipatory bail plea by three former Kerala police officers and a retired Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer in the Kerala High Court in the ISRO conspiracy case.
According to the Central Bureau, foreign intelligence agencies like ISI, Pakistan had conspired to derail the development of cryogenic technology in India, and the accused needed to be interrogated to find out the “brains” behind the operation.
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Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, appearing for the CBI, presented his case before Justice Ashok Menon saying the matter was serious which would affect national security.
The ASG argued that no relief should be given to the accused including police officers S Vijayan, Thampi S Durga Dutta, RB Sreekumar and retired IB officer PS Jayaprakash as the investigation is still in the initial stage.
He said that if anticipatory bail is granted, the accused will not disclose anything and important evidence will be lost.
“We will not be able to ascertain who was behind the conspiracy,” SV Raju was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
On the other hand, the accused denied the claim of CBI and replied that the central agency was coming out with a new story of ISI involvement when it found nothing in its investigation in 1994-95.
He argued that the CBI was making allegations without any material to support the allegations and no purpose would be served by custodial interrogation.
The court listed the matter for August 11, extending interim protection from arrest to the four till then.
However, the court said that this relief does not prevent the four accused from cooperating with the CBI for its investigation. A case was registered against 18 accused, including four, for various offenses such as criminal conspiracy, kidnapping and fabrication of evidence.
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on the case
The central agency had registered a case under the Indian Penal Code against 18 in connection with the arrest and detention of former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan in a 1994 espionage case.
In a hearing that lasted more than two hours on Friday, lawyers for the accused refused to detain or torture Narayanan and two Maldivian women (Mariam Rashida and Fauzia Hassan), who were arrested and detained in the 1994 case. Was.
The lawyers argued that the report of the Supreme Court-appointed committee headed by Justice (retd) DK Jain cannot be the sole basis for the CBI probe.
It was further argued that even the apex court had recently held that the CBI cannot rely solely on the report of the committee and has to submit evidence on its own to prove the conspiracy angle in the case. have to be collected.
Responding to this, the CBI said that the Supreme Court had held that Narayanan had suffered mental torture, harassment and humiliation as a result of the allegations of espionage and had given him Rs 50 lakh as compensation.
Narayanan’s counsel also opposed the anticipatory bail pleas of the four accused, while the high court said it would hear the arguments of advocate Prasad Gandhi on behalf of the two Maldivian women on the next date.
The espionage case involved allegations of transfer of confidential documents on India’s space program abroad by four others, including two scientists and two Maldivians.
The CBI, in its investigation at that time, had said that the top police officer in Kerala was responsible for the arrest of Nambi Narayanan, which the agency had termed as illegal.
(with agency input)
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