ISRO spy case: SC quashes Kerala HC order granting anticipatory bail to ex-Kerala DGP, others

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 2

The Supreme Court on Friday quashed the Kerala High Court’s order granting anticipatory bail to former Kerala DGP Siby Mathews and three others accused of framing the ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan in a spy case.

A Bench led by Justice MR Shah asked the high court to decide their pleas afresh in four weeks. However, it said the accused shall not be arrested for four weeks and until their anticipatory bail pleas are decided afresh by the high court, subject to them cooperating in the probe.

The Kerala High Court on August 13, 2021, granted anticipatory bail to four accused—the former Gujarat DGP, two former police officers of Kerala, and a retired intelligence official—in connection with the case. They were—R B Sreekumar (former DGP of Gujarat), Vijayan, Thampi S. Durga Dutt, and PS Jayaprakash.

The CBI has registered a case against 18 persons for various alleged offences, including criminal conspiracy, in connection with the arrest and detention of Narayanan in the espionage case.

The high court had set aside the 60-day limit imposed on the pre-arrest bail given to Mathews by the Sessions Court.

The Supreme Court had on November 22, 2021 issued notice on CBI’s plea challenging the anticipatory bail granted to the Police officials in the 1994 ISRO espionage case in which noted scientist Nambi Narayanan was allegedly framed by the accused.

Terming it a “very serious matter”, the CBI had said there may be a larger conspiracy at the behest of foreign hands which is being investigated.

The top court had in September 2018 ordered Kerala Government to pay Rs 50 Lakh compensation to Narayanan who was wrongly framed in the spy scandal. “The entire prosecution initiated by the State police was malicious and it has caused tremendous harassment and immeasurable anguish to the appellant, “ the Bench had said deciding his petition seeking action against former Kerala DGP Siby Mathews and other police officers who allegedly falsely implicated him in the case.

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