In part I and II of this
article, I had described the key role played by IPS officer Shreekumar in
sabotaging ISRO’s satellite program allegedly at the behest of the CIA. In
recent years, Shreekumar became a hatchet man for the Congress party as a quid
pro quo deal since he was facing serious enquiries following CBI’s indictment
of his mischievous role in fabricating the ISRO spy case.(Read
article:RB
Shreekumar: Hero of the Secular Brigade - Part I)In Part II of the article, Nambi Narayanan had
described the patently bizarre charges on which he and others were framed to
sabotage ISRO’s space program. (See:
How India’s Space Program was Sabotaged -- Nambi
Narayanan Describes the Targeting of ISRO by Shreekumar Masterminded Team of IB
Officials Part II)
UPA government closed enquiries
against Shreekumar in violation of all rules and regulations in return for his
launching a tirade against Narendra Modi in collaboration with Teesta
Setalvad’s NGO which he joined formally after his retirement. It is noteworthy that SIT report has
rubbished Shreekumar’s allegations against Modi.
In the final part of this three
part series, ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan describes how he and others were
subjected to third degree torture at the behest of State Intelligence Bureau
(SIB) team in Trivandrum masterminded by Shreekumar.
I don’t want to recall that
torture because I really collapsed from it. I will break down reliving that
torture it even though it happened 18 years ago. They inflicted physical, mental, every kind of
torture that you can imagine. They threatened that they will bring my son, my
wife, my daughter and beat them up unless I accept what they are saying. Only
recently I have begun writing my book in which I have taken the pain of
explaining what all I went through during the torturous period. You can read the
CBI report which clearly mentions that I and the Maldivian women were tortured.
They have said Nambi Narayanan had to be given medical treatment because he was
found to be in a precarious state. The arrest really terrorized the entire ISRO
community which was the primary purpose of those who had manufactured a false
case against us.
I was
in jail for 50 days. I came out on bail on January 19th 1995.
And among the
IB officers named by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), your famous
hero Shreekumar is also included. He was the Deputy Director of IB in
Trivandrum at that time while one Matthew John was the Joint Director. These
two were directly responsible for booking us and ordering the interrogation.
But they didn’t directly come in to the picture. Instead they sent their “boys”,
real goondas who did all the dirty work. Even the top police officers did not
come directly to arrest or question us. I asked for them. But nobody came
When
they took me for interrogation, they didn’t give me a seat. They asked me to
keep standing. They didn’t give me water when I asked for water. They said you
don’t deserve water. And slowly I became rigid. I said why the hell should I
bother? Why should I succumb to their pressure? So I refused to obey their
orders. Afterwards one old man, seemed like a good fellow, I think he was from RAW
-- he came and asked me “Mr Nambi Narayanan, please be seated.’ I said I don’t
want to be seated. He said, why? I said, because I don’t deserve a seat
according to your people. He said, ‘Have some water.’ I said I don’t want
water. Why? Again the same answer. The old man was very disturbed. That is when
I understood the power of Satyagraha. And I kept on standing.
The National Human Rights Commission had also
investigated Nambi Narayanan case. Among other severe indictments of IB and
Kerala Police, it confirms allegations of torture saying: “…while in
custody accused Nambi Narayanan was got medically checked up by Dr. V.
Sukumaran of Sreekrishna Hospital, Trivandrum in the Hindustan Latex Guest
House on 3rd December, 1994. Dr. Sukumaran found Nambi Narayanan’s
legs swollen and multiple haemorrhage rashes on both the legs. He … was not
allowed to sleep for two days and was kept standing”. (Page 6 & 7)
It goes on to add: The complainant, a
senior scientist of considerable repute, whose contribution to space research
is acknowledged, was kept under suspension for a period of 18 months on a false
case foisted on him which resulted, inter-alia, in loss of his reputation apart
from the ignominy and damage to his health in addition to the considerable
expenditure incurred to defend himself from the false accusation.
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After about 3-4 hours, this man came and asked ‘How long
will you stand like this?’ I said as long as my physique permits. I think it
went for more than 24 hours without sleep, without water, without food. [CBI
report says Narayanan went without sleep for two days] So I collapsed and fell
down. Then all of a sudden, I saw people running here and there. They lifted me
physically and put me on a cot. I could vaguely hear them talk among themselves.
This old man was saying, “This man if he dies, we had it. You people are not
listening to me. Why are we doing this? This is nonsense. I am going to
leave.” I saw some faces hovering over
me. I was conscious but not fit enough to stand. Then all of a sudden a doctor
began examining me. I could understand he was a doctor because he had a
stethoscope and all. He had a long face, wore spectacles and had a bald head. I
guessed his age was around 50 years. And he was asking me questions but I was
not able to talk to him. However, I could observe and record all those things
in my mind.
The
doctor told the interrogators, ‘Look here, this gentleman is on a knife’s edge.
If you apply more pressure, he could fall either side. All I can say is just
stop this nonsense.” Then he gave some
tablets and left. Later when I was released from the Torture Sessions with the
IB, I don’t want to call it an interrogation-- I recalled that incident and
then located the doctor. He is Dr.Sukumaran of Krishna Clinic at Poojapura. I
sent my brother to meet him. He was so great that he immediately took out a
sheet of paper and wrote in his own handwriting exactly what had happened on
that day. He said I was picked up by such and such policemen and was taken in
such and such jeep at such and such time and described my condition when he
came to examine me.
He told
my brother, “Sir I am giving you all these statements only because I alone know
the facts of this case. But I am also a human being. Tomorrow, for some reason
I may be pressured to give a different version. I don’t want to take that
chance. I want to ensure that the truth is with you and in my own handwriting.
And nobody can say that you pressured me to give a paper like this.”
I can
never forget that doctor. He came to give his testimony in the court also.
This is how Rajshekhar Nair’s book
‘Spies in Space’, describes the torture meted out to ISRO scientist,
Chandrashekhar(http://www.scribd.com/doc/180238344/SPIES-FROM-SPACE-THE-ISRO-FRAME-UP):
Standing
almost naked in front of his interrogators, Chandrashekhar too didn’t know what
was happening to him. He only knew they were plucking his beard with pliers and
raining blows on his face. He heard them cracking a joke that blows won’t leave
any marks thanks to his beard. (SIS Page 106)
Chandrashekhar
looked at the three member team (of the Kerala police) in utter disbelief. Am I
seeing things? Am I losing my mental balance? Who are these men staring at me?
Will I ever see Vijayamma (his wife) and my mother? Oh I have to attend her 84th
birthday…
In
the next moment he heard two shrill cries. His wife and his mother, he thought.
Unless
you tell the story (fabricated and tutored), we shall torture your wife and
mother. They are in the next room. Your mother now can celebrate your death. Or
you can celebrate hers. If you are interested in seeing your wife being raped
in front you and your mother, we can do it for you. We want to keep you spies
in good humour.”(Page 107)]
The CBI report says that Babu
Raj, S R, CID who was a part of the investigating team stated that “Accused
Chadrashekhar was kept in the Latex Guest House. When he visited the Guest
House to question Chandrashekhar, he observed a bunch of hair lying in the
bathroom and felt like vomiting. These were obviously plucked from
Chandrashekhar’s head or other body during his torture.
In its Closure Report CBI records the torture meted
out to Maldivian woman Rasheeda as follows:
Smt. Ammini Kutty Amma, SI, who was on
security duty of accused Rasheeda has stated that Rasheeda was not allowed to
sleep during the interrogation which continued round the clock for about a week
and she (Rasheeda) was kept standing. This SI has also stated that Rasheeda was
threatened by IB officers that she would be stripped naked and made to lie on
ice blocks and insects would be thrown on her body and it is only after the
torture and threats that Rasheeda identified the photograph of Raman Srivastava
as being the person who had met her and Fauzia at Army Club, Bangalore, as
desired by IB officers… (Page 83)
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Mariam Rasheeda,a Maldivian national arrested by the Trivandrum police |
Absurd Charges of
Monetary Gains
The
NHRC debunks charges of “selling” ISRO secrets to Pakistan saying, …”In fact,
the standard of living of Nambi Narayanan who is a very senior scientist and
has made a great contribution in the development of Vikas Engine, is very
modest qua his rank. (p.8)
CBI also found Nambi Narayanan’s standard of living almost
embarrassingly modest—lower than that of lowly government employees,
considering he was a leading senior scientist in the country's premier space
research institution. The panchnama
recoveries from his house listed six cane chairs, two tables, a couple of lamps
etc. He had recently sold his car and refrigerator.
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Fauzia Hassan
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It
was alleged that the two Maldivian women, Mariam and Fauzia were handing out crores of
rupees in exchange for stolen documents. But it turned out both were hard up
for cash. Fauzia had borrowed Rs 10,000 for her daughter’s capitation fee from
Sara Palani with whom she stayed as a paying guest in Bangalore. Mariam sold a
gold chain for Rs 4000 in Trivandrum for her extended stay.
Each of the Accused
Proved Innocent
CBI
Closure report says:
“Investigation
has established that the accused persons including Rasheeda, Nambi Narayanan
and Chandrashekhar were harassed and physically abused. It is curious that
while the IB had all the six accused persons in their custody, they recorded
the statements of only Sasikumaran, Chandrashekhar, Fauzia and Rasheeda and not
of Nambi Narayanan and S K Sharma. There is reason to believe that the
interrogators forced the accused persons to make statements on suggested lines.”
(Page.102)
Narayanan
says, his statements were not recorded because he did not yield even under
torture by the IB. Babu Raj SR, CID had also told the CBI since the IB had
already come to the conclusion regarding the involvement of Srivastava in the
espionage case even before the case was registered and therefore he did not
feel it necessary to verify the facts. He has also stated that “It was
difficult on our part to digest the above conclusion of the IB but we were
helpless”.
Regarding the
suspension and hounding of Inspector General of Police, Raman Srivastava, CBI
closure report says: Shri Raman Srivastava who was the Zonal IG,
Trivandrum, at the relevant time…was not known to any of the accused persons
from before. Fauzia and Rasheeda have also stated so before the CBI. ..It is
strange that when Raman Srivastava was very much in Trivandrum holding a
sensitive position and being very much in public eye, his presence was sought
to be shown in Madras and Bangalore, without any verification about his movements
which are well documented. (Page.101).
Nambi
Narayanan says,
It was
a joint operation of the IB as well as Kerala police. The top people knew that
they are fabricating the case. That is why they didn’t come in the picture.
Very low level functionaries of the police came to arrest and “investigate” the
matter. So clearly the masterminds were in the IB. It was such an
important case. They should have been the ones investigating.
By
contrast, when the case was taken over by the CBI, seven or eight top level
senior most IPS officers took charge of the case. Each and every officer in
this team was in his fifties and sixties -- Dr Kartikeyan, Vijay Ramarao, PC
Sharma -- they were officers of known credibility and competence. They
individually interrogated all of us. They completely debunked the case built by
the IB. On the other hand in the Kerala police and the IB, no man worth his
designation came into the picture. They were only sending some lowly minions…I
don’t even know whether they were Kerala Police or IB or just hired goondas.
I have sued IB officers Shreekumar as well as Matthew John in my
compensation case. And they have come to the witness box and swore by their
honesty. But I tell you that the truth shall
finally win. They say we have not tortured him. We have never interrogated
Nambi Narayanan.
In fact, as recently as 10 November, 2013, when
the ISRO case was taken up by Arnab Goswami on the News Hour, Shreekumar showed not the slightest sign of regret for
what he had done. He was brazen enough to say Narayanan got into trouble
because he is corrupt and a debauch! Such callousness is possible only in a
hardened criminal. If this is how Shreekumar could treat a foremost scientist
of India one wonders how he dealt with ordinary people who came in contact with
him during tenure as IPS officer.
It also speaks
volumes for our free and independent media that they swallowed all the lies fed
to them and published all manners of defamatory stories about ISRO scientists
without bothering to check their antecedents, without bothering to find out if
the charges made any sense. Barring The Hindu and Asianet most
others, lapped up the story without raising basic questions. The Kerala
newspapers were the worst in this regard. To quote Narayanan,
The media not only bought
the story, it was biting and chewing and publishing all that they were spoon
fed. But the entire story died all of a sudden as soon as the CBI
took over the case. Why? Because the CBI
was not feeding information to the press on a daily basis the way IB was
doing. Till the 5th of December, 1994 the case was with the police and IB. And newspapers were publishing spoon fed writing
about it daily. After the 5th of
December, the moment it went to the CBI the news stopped
abruptly. Now what else can you conclude?
Is the Very Existence of IB “Illegal”?
Nambi Naraynan says that a retired IB officer named R.N. Kulkarni has
filed a petition in the Karnataka High Court saying that the IB’s very
existence is illegal. IB is not legally recognized organization like the CRPF
or BSF etc. which were established by proper statutes. That writ is still
pending. However this confirms that the IB is not authorized to do certain
things like investigations and interrogation. In spite of that they did the
farce of interrogating us. So, does that not make their action illegal? That
means they had dubious motives. They did what is not part of their duty. The
entire thing is more spine-chilling than a crime thriller.”
Regarding the illegal status of IB Kulkarni’s
petition states: “As far
as IB is concerned, Parliament has failed to legislate for its establishment,
regulation, discipline, control and operations,” (page 4, para 6). It functions
“under the rickety auspices of an administration order...” and continued to be
“sans any constitutional or statutory identity” (para 8). This despite the fact
that IB was meant to be “a critical instrument of State Intelligence and
Security” (para7). IB does not have power to arrest or interrogate and yet IB
often steps beyond its authority because of “ad hoc control of the IB which is
neither sanctioned by the constitution or by statute”. As a result, National Security
continues to remain vested in an organization with sweeping powers that has no
responsibility or accountability in law”. Kulkarni has therefore, sought the
intervention of the Supreme Court to order the government to clarify the
status, recruitment, conduct, discipline, regulation, functioning and
accountability of the IB. (Writ Petition No 16075 of 2011 (PIL) in the High
Court of Karnataka.
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Narayanan’s Battle Far
From Over
The
tragedy is that Narayanan’s battle is far from over. Nambi has thus
far even been denied the compensation of Rs 1 crore ordered by the National
Human Rights Commission. After a long battle,
he was given Rs 10 lakhs by way of interim relief. But the bulk of
compensation has been denied to him by Kerala Government challenging the orders
of the Supreme Court, NHRC and CJM court.
He describes the endless battle he continues to wage:
The
Chief Judicial Magistrate’s (CJM) Court accepted the CBI closure after one year
that is on 2nd May 1996. Then the Supreme Court gave its seal of approval on 29th
April 1998. Through these 4 years, I had to
travel in unreserved compartments to Delhi, I had to fight the case in the
Trivandrum and Ernakulam High Courts and then in the Supreme Court. I had to
employ a lawyer and you can well understand what kind of financial difficulties
I would have been put into. After all I am a government employee. I was not
making money doing spy work. And I was fighting the mighty Government with all
the powers at its command.
It is truly bizarre that even after the CBI gives a report
stating that it is a false and fabricated case, even after
the CJM”s court accepted CBI findings, even after
the Supreme Court endorses CBI’s findings and gives a final order, the Government of Kerala went on to appeal against the Chief Magistrate’s order saying they dismiss the CBI’s findings and want to do further investigation. This when the National Human
Rights Commission which also investigated the case has ordered that I be paid a compensation of Rs 1 crore for the
wrongs having been done to me. At that
time Chief Minister
was EK Nayanar of the CPM. Why are they
dragging it still?
The CBI report has passed serious strictures against the unethical conduct
of these officers. But the CBI did not specify what action should be taken
against these rogue officers. They just recommended appropriate action. IB just
sent Shreekumar back to Gujarat. But that is not
exactly a punishment! The CBI also recommended action against the erring
officers of the Kerala Police. But what the Kerala Police did was truly brazen and shameless -- not only did they drop charges against
the guilty policemen, they issued an order saying that they will not take any
action against those named by the CBI. Now that is what I am challenging in the
court of law.
It is noteworthy that in the Supreme Court, Nambi Narayanan had to face eminent
lawyer and former Law Minister Shanti Bhushan who was hired by the Government
of Kerala to justify the illegal actions of Kerala Police and IB. Kerala Government
had ordered yet another investigation nullifying CBI closure report. But
Supreme Court not only ruled in favour of Nambi Narayanan and other accused, it
also ordered the Government of Kerala to pay each of the “accused”—Nambi
Narayanan, K Chandrashekhar, Mariam Rasheeda, S K Sharma-- who had petitioned
the Supreme Court Rs 100,000 towards the costs of litigation.
Is
Prashant Bhushan today defending Shreekumar because of his father’s connection
to the case or out of conviction?
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This
has been done by the present Congress-UDF government under chief minister Oomen
Chandy. They issued an order saying that we will not take action against
officials named in CBI report.
Chandy
says it happened so many years ago that it would be illegal to take action now.
My question is what is illegal about taking action against criminals? Secondly,
who was responsible for the delay? The state government had kept the file under
its carpet. The government was the custodian of the file. Now you cite that as
the reason for not taking action! Your officers have committed a crime. You
have protected them by delaying action and then say the delay is the reason for
not taking action. What kind of perverse logic is this?
I have
challenged it in the High Court. I hope the Kerala High Court will quash the
order of state government refusing action against the guilty policemen. Now
that is only for Kerala Police, not the IB officers.
The
argument put forward for non-action against IB officials was that it would
demoralize the entire IB. What the hell! If they have behaved like criminals,
they better be demoralized! The most treacherous part is that these people who
committed those crimes by implicating honest people in false cases in their bid
to destroy ISRO have been elevated, promoted and given medals of meritorious
service. What has this country come to?
Extract
from Supreme Court Order Validating Nambi Narayanan and Others Falsely Accused
by the IB
“The
contention of Mr. Shanti Bhushan that the C.B.I. only ’investigated into the
investigation’ is also without any basis whatsoever for we find that keeping in
view the statements made by some of the accused appellants, the C.B.I. sought
for the assistance of INTERPOL and got a number of persons examined by them in
Srilanka and Maldives [besides a number of witnesses in India, who were
examined by it (C.B.I.)].
Supreme
Court in an order dated 29/04/1998 stated as follows:”…we find that the State
Government did not canvass any satisfactory ground justifying further investigation,
while seeking permission of the Chief Judicial Magistrate for that purpose;
...Though
the investigation of the case cantered round espionage activities in I.S.R.O.
no complaint was made by it to that effect nor did it raise any grievance on
that score. On the contrary, from the police report submitted by the C.B.I. we
find that several scientists of this organisation were examined and from the
statements made by those officers the C.B.I. drew the following conclusion:-
"The
sum and substance of the aforesaid statements is that ISRO does not have a
system of classifying drawings/documents. In other words, the document drawing are
not marked as Top Secret, Secret, confidential or classified etc. Further, ISRO
follows an open door policy in regard to the issue of documents to scientists.
Since ISRO, is a research oriented organisation, any scientist wanting to study
any document is free to go to the Documentation Cell/Library and study the
documents.
As regards the
issue of documents to various Divisions, the procedure was that only the copies
used to be issued to the various divisions on indent after duly entering the
same in the Documentation Issue Registers.
During
investigation, it has been revealed that Fabrication Division where accused Sasikumaran
was working, various drawings running into 16,800 sheets were issued and after
his transfer to SAP, Ahmedabad on 7.11.1994, all the copies of the drawings
were found to be intact.
Nambi
Narayan being a senior scientist, though had access to the drawings, but at no
stage any drawings/documents were found to have been issued to him. They have
also stated it was usual for scientists to take the documents/drawings required
for any meetings/discussions to their houses for study purposes. In these circumstances,
the allegation that Nambai Narayan and Sasikumaran might have passed on the
documents to a third party, is found to be false. "
It further
appears that at the instance of C.B.I, a committee of senior Scientists was
constituted to ascertain whether any classified documents of the organisation
were stolen or found missing and their report shows that there was no such
missing documents. There cannot, therefore, be any scope for further
Investigation in respect of purported espionage activities in that organisation
in respect of which only the Kerala police would have jurisdiction to investigate;...
If before
taking up further investigation an opinion has already been formed regarding
the guilt of the accused and, that too, at a stage when the commission of the offence
itself is yet to be proved, it is obviously that the investigation cannot and
will not be fair and its outcome appears to be a foregone conclusion.
From the
above facts and circumstance we are constrained to say that the issuance of the
impugned notification does not comfort with the known pattern of a responsible
Government bound by rule of law. This is undoubtedly a matter of concern and
consternation. We say no more.
On the
conclusions as above we allow these appeals and quash the impugned
notification. We direct the Government of Kerala to pay a sum of Rs. 1,00,000/-
(Rupees one lac) to each of the six accused appellants as costs.”
(K.
CHANDRASEKHAR, MARIAM RASHEEDA, S.K. SHARMA, S. NAMBI NARAYANAN Vs. THE STATE
OF KERALA & ORS. DATE OF JUDGMENT: 29/04/1998
BENCH: M.K. MUKHERJEE, SYED SHAH MOHAMMED QUADRI )
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Long Term
Damage to ISRO
The
irreparable harm done to ISRO by the CIA masterminded IB executed spy scandal
is evident from the fact that the cryogenic launch has been indefinitely
derailed. Nambi says:
Originally we were supposed
to get these flights tested by the year 1999 or 2000. I would have launched it
positively, if not by 2000, then latest by 2001. Now it is 12 years since then!
Even today you don’t have that technology.
Ajay
Lele, author of the book “Mission Mars”
confirmed this in The Indian Express
Op-Ed page of 12 November, 2013. To
quote him: The rocket used for the Mars Mission was the PSLV ( Polar Satellite
Launch Vehicle). “It has been argued
that India should have used the GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle),
which is capable of carrying more weight and hence more sensors. It is known
that GSLV is under construction and ISRO is struggling with this technology.”
Hence ISRO’s had no choice but to make do with what they had available since
GSLV is not likely to be ready before 2016.
Allegations of CIA Role Never Probed
Through these 18 years, either Congress
led UDF or the Communist Part Marxist (CPM) led LDF was in power. Neither the Congress nor the CPM thought it
fit to investigate allegations regarding CIA’s role:
The CBI
has closed the case in 1996. They said ordering an investigation into the
alleged role of the CIA was not in our terms of reference. In 1998, the Supreme
Court closed the case. But the very next year, in 1999, J Rajashekar Nair wrote
a book by the name ‘Spies from Space’
about CIA’s role in this entire tragic episode. And in 2000, well known space
scientist, Brian Harvey writes a book saying it clearly that the CIA was
involved.
You
can’t find a single copy of the book by Rajshekar Nair in any store in India.
It is because the IB is supposed to have forced Konarak Publishers to withdraw
all the copies of the book on the very second day of its release. Apparently,
they
purchased all the copies and destroyed them. The publisher has been
forbidden from bringing out another edition of the book. The publisher pretends
the book is out of stock. But they say they don’t even have a sample copy of
the book. If a book is sold out, you should bring out more. The truth is that the publisher has been
barred from printing it anymore.
I confirmed this personally by calling
Konarak Publishers. The moment I asked for a copy of this book, the manager who
answered the phone said nervously, “You can’t get a single copy of the book
anywhere in the world. It is all over. I said, ‘surely some library has it or
maybe you have a copy, I can come and read in your office’. He said a curt ‘No’
and put down the phone.
Narayanan
says:
Since
there is good reason to believe that there was a foreign hand in this, I want
it to be investigated. Despite all the evidence of mischief by the CIA produced
by known specialists, the government has put the issue under the carpet and has
blocked all investigations into the role of CIA in derailing our satellite
launch.
Today I
am the only guy who is fighting this case. Infact, former President and ISRO
chairman A J Kalam told me why are you
fighting this case? You leave it to God. He will take care of it. I am a God
believing person and go to the temple regularly. I believe the entire case came
in my favour because God was with me. But I told Mr Kalam, ‘No sir I want to
fight this case to the finish.’ All the 5 other people have left the scene.
They don’t want to spend another life time fighting the government. Imagine,
I’ve fought a lone battle for 18 long years. I had to sell my property and
borrow money on heavy interest. How many people can survive such an ordeal?
This country certainly owes
something to me. They have to investigate this whole affair. I am not asking
them to shoot this or that person but simply find out whether there is any
truth in what I am saying. And if there is some amount of truth in it, then we
are heading for a catastrophe. This is compromising national interest, national
security. If they can do to this to ISRO—a premier institution of India, they
can do it to anything, anybody. Whatever I have told you was not found out
overnight. It is 18 years of painstaking work born out of anguish, out of the
misery I have gone through. I had to find out why it has happened. I am happy
you are willing to cooperate with me in taking this case to its logical
conclusion.
After having proved his innocence, Narayanan has taken on a
bigger fight against the Government of India, the Government of Kerala and all
other vested interests. But the battle is demoralizing.
Yes, I continue fighting but
sometimes one feels ‘why should I do all these things?’ Look at what is
happening all around me? So many scams
after scams! It is difficult to stomach
this situation. But I will not leave my
fight mid-way. I want these people to be punished for what they have done, not
only to me but to India, to the country!
Career and
Personal Life Destroyed Beyond Repair
It was really
spine chilling as well as depressing to hear how the most productive years of one
of our best scientists was destroyed beyond repair at the peak of his career. Is Nambi at all involved with ISRO now? He says,
I do not have the mental
ability for scientific work anymore. I am tired. I retired about 12 years back.
When this happened ISRO did not come to my help. The only thing ISRO did to
help me was to reinstate me immediately after the Supreme Court judgment. They
also promoted me as director of advanced technology and planning. They gave me
a good position at the headquarters. But the dare devil and go getter -- that
is what people used to call me -- was dead, was killed.
I had to fight this case all by myself. Later,
one by one people came to help me in my fight for justice. Even you didn’t even
visit me during that time!
Slowly, I am building the
momentum of people joining me, calling me and listening to my version of this
episode. But I am really tired. I
couldn’t have become part of ISRO team by the time I was exonerated. Before it all
hit me, I was in a commanding position. I was project director, second stage of
PSLV, fourth stage of PSLV, project director cryogenic stage, deputy director
liquid systems and member associate project director for PSLV, GSLV. And yet I was
arrested and dragged to the roads like a third rate criminal . It cast a shadow
on my whole career. How could I go back to command the program? Now everything
is clear but it is too late to go back.
I am an
ordinary individual. My income is very meagre. I am living just on my pension.
Now I have my own small family—my son, my daughter, my wife. We have our own
set of problems. In the process of dedicated service to ISRO, I did not take
care of the family. Now how long can I go on with this fight given my meagre
resources?
My wife was so
upset that she doesn’t speak to anyone now. You are watching her today. Compare
it with her photograph there on the shelf. She was such an active lady. She
would have sat with you and helped me talk to you. But since then she is so shattered, so upset
that she doesn’t talk to anyone. You saw she just came and gave us a cup of tea
and left without saying a word. I have not just lost my professional life but
also my personal life. I have also lost my health. I have lost my money. At one
point of time I was even thinking of taking my life. But I didn’t because if I had died without
fighting this case, I would have died as a spy. I have already proved my
innocence. Now I am fighting this case only to show that you guys can’t get
away with whatever you want.
The only moral force with me
was that I was winning. I did not lose even one case in court.
I will
be grateful if you can highlight this in some place. My wife is an innocent lady. She keeps asking me, “Why is this case continuing? Is
there anything more to it?” She is not able to make sense of it.
Her question is an innocent question. but I have no answer. Now I am asking this question to you as well
as to the common public.
Posted on November 24, 2013
For Modinama 1 click here
For Modinama 2 click here
For Modinama 3 click here
For Modinama 4 click here
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For Modinama 6 click here
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For Modinama 8 click here
For Modinama 9 click here
For Modinama 10 click here
For Modinama 11 click here
For Modinama 12-Part I click here
For Modinama 13-Part I click here
For Modinama 13-Part II click here