In a major setback to the CBI, a divisional bench of the Kerala High Court granted anticipatory bail to the six accused in the ISRO espionage case.
Those granted relief by the High Court bench includes former DGPs Siby Mathews, RB Sreekumar, former Superintendent of Police Vijayan and Thamby S Durga Dutt.
The Supreme Court on Dec 2 had set aside the orders passed by the Kerala High Court in 2021 granting anticipatory bail to five former police and intelligence bureau officials in the case related to the alleged framing of ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 espionage case. The Court remitted the bail applications back to the High Court and asked the High Court to decide the same as early as possible, at any rate within a period of four weeks.
After the Kerala HC anticipatory bail to the alleged accused in August 2021, the CBI moved the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of the bail, the Indian Express said in a report.
While considering the CBI petition last month, the apex court had said that the high court did not “consider the allegations” against the accused, the news report added.
Prominent scientist Nambi Narayanan’s arrest in the infamous case of 1994 was illegal because the premise that scientific information had been leaked was concocted, the CBI had told the Kerala HC. The central probe agency argued for the denial of anticipatory bail to those being investigated for the alleged frame-up.Nambi Narayanan was a prominent liquid propellant engine scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and was framed in a false spying case.
