FIR filed against former Kerala police chief in ISRO espionage case: CBI tells SC

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday told the Supreme Court of India that it has registered an FIR against former Kerala Police Chief, Sibi Mathew and others for their alleged involvement and criminal conspiracy to frame former Indian Space Research Organisation scientist, Nambi Narayanan in an espionage case in 1994.

The Supreme Court of India took into record the sealed cover report filed by the CBI.

"We perused the report filed by the CBI," the two-judge bench of the Apex Court, headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice Sanjiv Khanna said on Monday.

The apex court was apprised today that the CBI has not uploaded the contents of the FIR yet and thereby, it has sought the court's nod for the same. The apex court granted the same.

The Solicitor General (SG), Tushar Mehta, senior law officer appearing for the CBI, said that the contents of the FIR will be uploaded during the course the day today itself.

"We permit that the FIR will be uploaded during the course of the day," the top court said, and added that "law will take its own course."

The bench made it clear that the report filed by the CBI need not be made public and the authorities were free to proceed with that matter.

Kaliswaram Raj, the lawyer for one of the accused persons, said that the CBI is proceeding on the report against him. To this the bench said, they can't proceed on the report, they have to investigate on their own. The report is only initial information. It can not be the basis. Ultimately the investigation has to be done in the case, the apex court said.

The probe agency, CBI had recently on Saturday, submitted its inquiry status report to the Supreme Court in a sealed cover in connection with the case.

The Supreme Court had in its order on April 15 directed the CBI to probe the alleged involvement of some Kerala police officers in framing the former ISRO scientist, Nambi Narayanan, who was accused of spying in 1994 and to file a detailed status report before it.

The Supreme Court had on April 15, also took into record the report submitted by the three-member panel, headed by Justice (Retired) D K Jain, who inquired and gave its report to the apex courter in March this year.

The apex court had during the course of the hearing, said that the Committee has submitted its report saying it is a serious issue and required further investigation.

"The report will remain in a sealed cover and will be given to the CBI authorities to proceed in accordance with the law," the top court had said and made it clear that the report is not made for publication.

The Supreme Court also had said that the report is not for public circulation or publication when Nambi Narayanan's lawyer sought a direction from it as to whether he could get a copy of the report.

"The report is for a different purpose. It will be used by the CBI," it said and added that the CBI will have to submit a report to the Supreme Court within three months.

The Supreme Court, in its order, headed by the CJI (Retired) Dipak Misra, had in 2018, said, the arresting of the former ISRO scientist, Nambi Narayan, was needless and unnecessary. It also granted a compensation of Rs 50 lakh to him in the alleged spying case for his harassment and the mental agony he faced in the case.

( With inputs from ANI )

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor