NEW DELHI – Nambi Narayanan, a former scientist of the Indian SpaceResearch Organisation (ISRO), has come out with a tell-all autobiography inwhich he talks about his years at the space agency and especially thedifficult time he underwent when he was falsely implicated in the infamous1994 spy case.
Narayanan, who was accused of selling vital secrets associated with Indianspace technology in 1994, was later acquitted by a CBI court and theSupreme Court in 1998. He spent a total of 50 days in jail along withfellow scientist D Sasikumar and four others, Indian express has reported.ADVERTISEMENT
In an excerpt of the book named ‘Ormakalude Bhramanapatham’ (Orbit ofmemories) published on IEMalayalam.comlink>onWednesday, Narayanan paints the spy case as a conspiracy against him andthe ISRO through the collective efforts of agents of the US CentralIntelligence Agency (CIA) in connivance with Indian police and intelligenceofficers. The case was produced out of thin air in order to stall India’srapid advancements in the development of an indigenous cryogenic rocketengine, he alleges in the book.XXNambi Narayanan at ISRO’s programme.
“My investigation showed that the spy case was the illegitimate child ofthe US-French agencies with the intention of burying me and the ISRO in thecemetery,” Narayanan writes.
“The spy case saw a Maldivian woman being framed as a spy to carry secretsthat never existed by police officials, politicians and journalists whoknowingly or unknowingly fell for the plot of the CIA.”
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In June this year, former chief minister and CPM veteran VS Achuthanandanhad released a book written by Siby Mathews, who headed the investigationinto the ISRO spy case. In Narayanan’s excerpt, he talks about his meetingwith Mathews after he was acquitted in the case.
“He (Mathews) told me that he was unknowingly pushed into the case bythen-DGP Madhusudanan. He told me he did not intentionally try to troubleme,” wrote Narayanan in the book.
Narayanan has sought re-investigation into the spy case to uncover thepeople behind it.