There is more to the infamous ISRO spy case which caused a setback to India’s space programme and ruined the career of Dr Nambi Narayanan, according to the former Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) field officer Rajesh Pillai.
He has said that it was not Pakistan but some other country that was involved in this espionage. Without disclosing the country name, Pillai said that R&AW agents in that country alerted their colleagues in India and asked them to keep Maldivian national Raheeda under surveillance who had planned to enter the country through Thiruvananthapuram airport.
Pillai was then the R&AW officer posted at the airport who said that the officials had instructions to detain her.
In November 1994, Narayan and fellow scientist D Sasi Kumaran in charge of the cryogenic technology transfer from Russia, were arrested on charges of espionage. It was alleged that the transfer of confidential documents of ISRO were given to two Maldivian women.
Mr. Pillai said that the espionage was not aimed at the cryogenic technology alone but had larger scheme of things at play. He said that the culprits got away after the case acquired a political conspiracy angle that ruled out the espionage bid.
As per Pillai’s assessment, political and other interest groups covered up the espionage case. He said that after the Prime Minister and CBI director paid a visit to Kerala, R&AW was forced to wind up its probe after 20 days.
India was very close to perfecting the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) also known as the “naughty boy” as ISRO wanted a more powerful rocket that could hoist payloads to the geosynchronous transfer orbit.
However, a fresh probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has the potential to bring out the truth after the Supreme Court of India ordered the CBI to further probe the findings of the Jain Committee. The roles played by senior police officers Siby Mathew, the then deputy inspector general (DIG), and, S Vijayan and K K Joshua, were to be investigated.
The truth in the ISRO spy case will never see the light of day unless an investigation is carried out by the Central Agencies without passion and prejudice because the CBI did not acknowledge Dr Narayan claim that it was an international conspiracy to derail or delay India’s advancement in cryogenic technology. As per Pillai, the central investigation agency could bring out the truth.
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