The infamous ISRO Spy case, which had hit the headlines in 1994, pertained to allegations of transfer of certain confidential documents on Indian space program to foreign countries by two scientists and four others, including two Maldivian women. The following were the repercussions, that had far reaching ramifications.
1) Scientist Nambi Narayanan was termed guilty - by the Kerala Police and IB - and was incarcerated in jail. Not only did he undergo the humiliation of having sold out national secrets, he lost his wife who was pained at the ignominy that her husband and the family were facing and passed into the mist of time..
2) There was almost a 20 year-setback to the Indian Cryogenic Engine project.
3) The then chief minister, K Karunakaran had to step down - though he was absorbed into the central government immediately - and AK Antony had taken his place. There was a buzz then that, the Antony-faction within the Congress, had engineered this entire drama.
4) The case was re-opened in 2018 and the Supreme Court had found loopholes in the entire investigation and gave a clean chit to Nambi Narayanan, directing the state government to pay a
compensation of Rs.1.3 crores which it did!
5) Nambi Narayanan, became a hero overnight and the general public felt bad that a good man had to
undergo ignominy for no fault of his.
6) The movie, "Rocketry : The Nambi Effect" which was released recently, spoke about the life and times of the scientist who had become a hero overnight.
Yesterday, a group of former senior scientists from the ISRO - Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) founding director, AE Muthunayakam, former VSSC associate director, Adimurthy, former cryogenic engine project director, EVS Namboodiri, former PSLV project director, George Koshy and D Sasikumaran, who had been falsely implicated along with Nambi in the spy case - said that they were forced to convene a news conference as:
1) Nambi Narayanan was embarked on a lie campaign, belittling the work of thousands of space scientists through the cinema and television channel debates.
2) Nambi Narayanan never had any responsibility in the development of liquid propulsion system development activities. {the film portrays Nambi as the brain behind the liquid propulsion stages).
3) Nambi Narayanan claims to have worked closely with Vikram Sarabhai, Dhawan and Brahm Prakash, the stalwarts of ISRO in evolving the space program. This is totally against the facts on the ground because he had never worked closely with any of them.
4) The development of the cryogenic propulsion system happened after a report by experts - under the leadership of EVS Namboodiri - recommended that particular system for the launch vehicle of ISRO and Nambi was not even a member of this team and had made no contribution.
My take
Nambi Narayanan sir, the ball is now in your court! Or is it a wicked act by your jealous contemporaries? Awaiting your response.
Courtesy. The NIE
Tailpiece.
Got up at a trifle past 6, the chores and was ready by 10. I'd gone through my exercises, both in the morning and in the evening, after a break.
It was a quiet day with both of us going through our normal, daily chores.
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