Why former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan is "happy" over RB Sreekumar's arrest
Former ISRO scientist, Nambi Narayanan, on whose life a movie Rocketry has been made and is all set to release this week, is “happy” that former IPS officer RB Sreekumar has been arrested by Gujarat police.
The 80-year-old scientist, who was falsely accused of espionage and arrested in 1994, said that Sreekumar, has been charged now of “fabricating stories and trying to sensationalise them” and that is exactly “what he did in his case”.
After former Gujarat director general of police, RB Sreekumar, was arrested by Ahmedabad police on Saturday (June 25), Nambi Narayanan, who was later acquitted of all charges against him, told ANI that our system is such that anybody can say any “loose statement” and get away with that.
“I came to know that he was arrested today for keeping on fabricating stories and trying to sensationalise them, there was a charge against him. It is exactly what he did in my case also. I’m very happy to note that he has been arrested because there is limit for everything and he is crossing all the limits in terms of decency,” said the former ISRO scientist, who was conferred the Padma Bhushan in 2019.
Former Gujarat DGP RB Sreekumar had been the deputy director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) at the time, when Narayanan and another former ISRO scientist were subjected to “mental and physical torture” by former Kerala police and IB officers. In August 2021, this is what they told the CBI team that has been appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate the police role in the entire episode.
Further, on Sreekumar’s arrest, Narayanan said no one should be allowed to take advantage of loopholes of law. “When he was arrested I was very happy because he will keep on doing this kind of mischief all the time, there must be an end to such a thing. That is why I said, I am very happy. Same thing applies to me in all respects,” he said.
In November 1994, Nambi Narayanan was charged with leaking sensitive information related to India’s space developments to foreign representatives. He was arrested by the Kerala Police on charges of espionage and later was interrogated by the IB and was tortured during that time. When the CBI took over the case, they told the court they did not have any evidence to support the charge against him.
The Supreme Court dismissed the charges in 1998 and declared him not guilty.
Rocketry directed by R Madhavan chronicles the life of the scientist and the agony and hardships he went through when he was accused of being a spy.
