Kerala state cabinet on Thursday gave in-principle approval to give Rs 1.3 crore compensation to former ISRO scientist S Nambi Narayanan. The decision comes after Narayanan filed a case against his unlawful arrest in Thiruvananthapuram Sub Court. In the year 1994, following the arrest of a Maldivian national in Thiruvananthapuram for allegedly obtaining secret drawings of ISRO rocket engines to sell to Pakistan, Nambi Narayanan, director of cryogenic project at ISRO, was arrested by Kerala police, reports The Hindu.
Narayanan had alleged that during his 50-day custody, he was not only tortured but was also forced to give false statements.
He had moved the apex court challenging the judgment of the Kerala High Court, which did not order an action against former DGP Siby Mathews and two retired superintendents of police KK Joshua and S Vijayan, who were later held responsible by the CBI for the illegal arrest of Narayanan.
However, in 2018, the top Court imposed a stay on the arrest of former Narayanan observing that he had been detained "unnecessarily, harassed and subjected to mental cruelty" in connection to the 1994 espionage case, popularly known as ISRO spy case.
Narayanan spent around two months in jail before the CBI in its probe concluded that the allegations against him in the infamous ISRO espionage case were false.
The former ISRO scientist was conferred with Padma Bhushan this year which he accepted by saying that ‘award gave him a feeling that his contribution had finally been recognised’.
Addressing a rally in in Kerala’s Thrissur in January this year, PM Modi slammed the UDF leaders for settling their political scores and damaging the reputation of a scientist.
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