ISRO Espionage Case : Kerala High Court Allows Anticipatory Bail Applications Filed By RB Sreekumar & Other Accused

The Kerala High Court on Friday allowed anticipatory bail applications of former Police and Intelligence Bureau officers, including former Gujarat ADGP RB Sreekumar and former Kerala DGP Siby Mathews, in the case relating to the alleged framing of former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 ISRO Espionage case.A bench of Justice K. Babu passed the order. The Court directed that the accused must appear before the CBI for interrogation on January 27 between 10 AM and 11 AM. In the event of their arrest, they shall be released on bail on executing bonds for Rs 1 lakhs each with two solvent sureties each for the like sum. They cannot leave India without the permission of jurisdictional court."They shall continue to appear before the interrogating officer on Mondays and Fridays for a further period of two weeks. They shall continue to report before the investigating officer for interrogation as and when required. Petitioners shall not influence the witnesses or tamper with the evidence. They shall fully corporate with the investigation subjecting themselves to deemed custody as observed in Gurbachan Singh Sibbia & Others. v. State of Punjab and Sushila Aggarwal & Others v. State (NCT of Delhi) and Ors. for the purpose of discovery or identification if any", Justice Babu read out the operative portion of the order.The High Court re-heard the bail applications of the five accused after its earlier orders granting them pre-arrest bail in 2021 were set aside by the Supreme Court in December 2022. The Supreme Court had remanded the matters for fresh decision by the High Court after observing that the previous orders were passed without considering certain aspects.The petitioners are alleged to have committed offences punishable under Sections 120-B read with Sections 167, 195, 218, 323, 330, 348, 365, 477-A, and 506 of the Indian Penal Code.The prosecution case is that all the accused conspired together to falsely implicate eminent scientist of ISRO Nambi Narayanan and others in the espionage case. The accused deliberately leaked the information to the press to create a narrative implicating the scientists of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre. They arrested the scientists deliberately suppressing the material facts, and tampered with the investigation. They further permitted the unauthorized interrogation of Mariyam Rasheeda and the scientists by the officials of the Intelligence Bureau and that there was a deliberate attempt to remove Nambi Narayanan from the project of Cryogenic Technology for defeating the prestigious mission of ISRO.ArgumentsIt was submitted by Senior Advocate S. Sreekumar on behalf of R.B. Sreekumar IPS that he had neither arrested Narayanan nor was he present during his interrogation of Narayanan. Sreekumar was then the Deputy Director of the Intelligence Bureau.He apprised the Court that the investigation had been transferred to the CBI immediately after the arrest of Nambi Naryan. The senior counsel further submitted that R.B. Sreekumar discharged his official duty without any malafides. Senior Counsel further submitted that he only assisted the STI in the matter of questioning the accused persons t the request of the Kerala Police and that he was only assigned the duty of interrogating D. Sasikumar. Senior Counsel pleaded the Court not to be influenced by the report of DK Jain Committee as the accused persons were not parties to the proceedings of Justice DK Jain Committee and therefore they were not given an opportunity to place relevant materials before the Committee. The DK Jain Committee was constituted by the Apex Court to inquire into the role of the police officials in the conspiracy against Nambi Narayanan. Advocate V Ajakumar, who appeared on behalf of former DGP Dr Sibi Mathews, argued before the Court that he had no direct role in the registration of the crime and he only happened to be the head of the SIT. "Out of the nonbailable offences alleged against the accused, registration of FIR in respect of the offence under Section 195 IPC is in violation of the procedure provided in Section 195 Cr.P.C. The ingredients of the offence punishable under Section 365 IPC are lacking in the allegations, and the accused are entitled to the protection of Sections 76 and 79 of the Indian Penal Code. The prosecution failed to establish the requirements of custodial interrogation of the accused", the Counsel submitted.Advocate Kaleeswaram Raj appearing for former Kerala police official P.S. Jayaprakash submitted that he has not even seen Nambi Narayanan and that Political vengeance was the reason for implicating him in the crime. "Suspicion cannot result in denial of freedom, suspicion cannot be the basis for such a drastic action after 28 years", said the Counsel while stressing the fact that there is only a broad allegation and no individual case has been built up and that the prosecution has failed to pinpoint the role of each of the accused in the allegations touching the theory...

ISRO Espionage Case : Kerala High Court Allows Anticipatory Bail Applications Filed By RB Sreekumar & Other Accused

Athira Prasad

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