Plea to help scientist caught in spy scam
Eminent space scientists and former chief election commissioner
T N Seshan have appealed to the authorities concerned to put an
end to the harassment of Indian Space Research Organisation scientist
Dr S Nambinarayanan in connection with an espionage scandal.
In an open letter released to the press in Bangalore on Thursday,
February 6, they said the Central Bureau of Investigation has
absolved Dr Namibinarayanan of any wrongdoing.
The verdict of the chief judicial magistrate of Ernakulam, discharging
all the accused in the ISRO espionage case was also on record.
However, the recent clearance accorded by the Kerala high court
to further investigate the case would drag him and his family
through another period of crisis.
The main allegation against Dr Nambinarayanan was that drawings
and documents relating to the Viking engine and cryogenic technology
were handed over to enemy countries in exchange for large amounts
of money in dollars at three different locations (Madras, Bangalore,
Thiruvananthapuram) in January, June and September 1994.
They said searches conducted by both Kerala police and the CBI
had revealed no incriminating material or receipt of money from
or by him.
Besides Seshan, who had once served in the Space Commission, the
signatories to the three-page letter are former space commission
chairmen S Dhawan and U R Rao, Professor Yash Pal, Professor R
Narasimha and space scientist S Chandrashekar.
Referring to the CBI report, the scientists said the investigations
had revealed that Nabinarayanan had never met Ramon Srivatsava,
S K Sharma or the two Maldivian women.
The accusations against him regarding financial gains from espionage
were baseless his lifestyle was very close to that of a poor person
and that a lie detector test administered to Nambinarayanan by
the CBI validated that he was speaking truth.
An internal investigation carried out by ISRO has shown that no
original drawings relating to the Viking or cryogenic engines
were missing. Even fabrication drawings, which ISRO routinely
passed on to industry, were not missing, they pointed out.
''As people who have been associated with technology development
in India, we have not been able to understand the logic of what
is supposed to have happened in the espionage case, they said.
Acquisition of technology by any foreign power is a complex process.
Experience indicated that even when drawings were acquired under
open technology transfer agreements, their transformation into
working hardware takes time, expertise and large financial outlays,
they added.
UNI
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