The ‘Spy’ Who Refused to Let The Trail Go Cold: What ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan had promised PM Modi

The Supreme Court Friday held that former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan was "arrested unnecessarily, harassed and subjected to mental cruelty" in a 1994 espionage case and ordered a probe into the role of Kerala police officers.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra awarded Rs 50 lakh compensation to 76-year-old Narayanan for being subjected to mental cruelty in the case. (A timeline of his case)

The bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, formed a three-member panel headed by its former judge D K Jain to probe Narayanan being framed in the spy case.

Narayanan had approached the apex court against the judgement of the Kerala High Court, which said no action was required to be taken against the former DGP and two retired superintendents of police K K Joshua and S Vijayan, who were later held responsible by the CBI for the scientist's illegal arrest.

In 1998, the apex court granted compensation of Rs 1 lakh to Narayanan and others, who were discharged in the case, and directed the state government to pay the amount.

He later approached the NHRC claiming compensation from the state government for the mental agony and torture suffered by him.

The NHRC, after hearing both sides and taking into account the apex court judgement of April 29, 1998, awarded him interim compensation of Rs 10 lakh in March 2001.

In 2014, erstwhile CM Modi, had sympathised with his case. During the last leg of his campaign, Narendra Modi met him. He wrote in his book: “During the last leg of his 2014 election campaign, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi sent word that he would like to meet me when he would be in Thiruvananthapuram. I obliged. I thought Modi would ask me about R.B. Sreekumar, the former Gujarat DGP who both Modi and I had (different) reasons to hate. Sreekumar, who took on Modi on Godhra, was earlier part of the IB leadership that cooked up the ISRO spy story. But Modi asked not a word about him. “I will meet you in Delhi and present the book,” I said. Modi soon moved to Delhi as the PM. Now I am ready to keep my promise.”

With inputs from PTI