Nambi Narayanan's autobiography set for launch on Oct 26, seeks probe into false ISRO spy case

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: 'Ormakalude brahmanapadam', in the orbit of memories, the autobiography of ISRO's former scientist Nambi Narayanan in Malayalam is set for release on October 26 here. With interesting anecdotes, the book unravels the scientific quest and his initial efforts in developing the country's indigenous cryogenic technology that propels India's space technology today.It also reveals his life before and after the fabricated ISRO spy case that shattered his career and dreams. As a lead scientist, Nambi Narayanan introduced liquid fuel rocket technology in India in the early 1970s which gradually built its momentum for the launch of GSLV-Mark II with the first indigenous cryogenic engine. His book intends to take the readers on a walk down the memory lane of his yesteryears at ISRO and also aims at a fair probe into the spy case.
Ahead of his book launch, Nambi Narayanan told TOI, "This book, my autobiography brings out the evolution of ISRO by an initial team of 25 scientists and how India's space technology grew from scratch at Thumba in Kerala working closely with scientific stalwarts Vikram Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan, UR Rao and APJ Abdul Kalaam. It is an account of my experiences, the decisions, challenges, some of which back-fired and decisions that emerged significant, its aftermath. Then the torture that followed after I was arraigned with the spy case, then the interrogation and how it led to humiliation and torture. The names of state police and Intelligence bureau officials, the political and foreign government link. It is proof of induction to make sure of the surmise which needs to be confirmed in the interest of the nation."
Primarily, the CBI had declared the ISRO spy case as false after an 18-month-long investigation, the High Court and the Supreme Court had reinstated that it is a false case, acquitting all the six accused in the case. But who created the false case, for what purpose and who are all behind it. The probe is significant in the light of the undue delay of 13 years in developing an indigenous cryogenic engine. The US applied pressure and the Russians broke the contract to supply cryogenic engine to India. There has to be a thorough probe to bring out the truth behind the involvement of an external influence in fabricating a case. CBI report mentions the names, what is important for a nation, who played and what was the foul play? I have called for a thorough re-investigation with terms of reference to find out the intentions or the motive of the people behind creating a false case, he said.
Penned by journalist turned film director G Prajesh Sen, the book also presents a vivid portrayal of Nambi's Narayanan life as a brilliant child, his parents, family upbringing, initial education and how he passed out of college, how he started his career, his experiences working with scientific stalwarts, interesting anecdotes such as how he saved Kalaam from an accident during a scientific challenge and so on which makes an interesting read. It also presents the translated version of CBI closure report. "No allegation in the ISRO spy case was proved and it was declared a false case in the CBI closure report," Prajesh Sen said.
This book reveals the dreadful episode on how a spy is virtually created. It was a sultry afternoon followed by a cold breeze by around 3 pm on Nov 30, 1984 and before Nambi Narayanan could overcome a drowsy feel after lunch, a jeep came crashing before the gate and four men stepped out of it – Vanchiyoor then circle inspector CI Jogesh, then sub inspector Thambi Durgadutt and two other policemen. Nambi narrates that he walked towards the gate and he felt that something unusual is about to happen. Then Jogesh informs him that DIG Sibi Mathews wants to meet him. Nambi Narayanan seeks their permit to change his dress and joins them in the jeep. Before the vehicle takes off his wife looks up in shock and faints, but he could not look back and what follows is an attempt by a set of Kerala police officials and IB sleuths with political nexus torturing him for months to fabricate a spy case.
It was alleged that ISRO scientists Nambi Narayanan and D Sasikumaran had sold out the defence secret of cryogenic technology for millions to Maldivian emissaries Mariam Rasheeda and Fauzia Hassan. The case led to an uproar that forced the then chief minister K Karunakaran to resign. In 1996, the CBI dismissed the case as false and fabricated and in 1998 the Supreme Court acquitted Nambi Narayanan and others in the case. National Human Rights Commission in 2011 issued an order to offer an interim compensation relief of Rs 10 lakh to Nambi Narayanan and issued a show cause notice to the then Kerala police officers Siby Mathew, S Vijayan and KK Joshua for the false spy case. In 2012, Kerala High Court ordered the state to pay Rs 10 lakh as interim relief to Nambi Narayanan for falsely implicating him in the spy case.
The book reveals that as per the CBI directive to identify any missing document, LPSC had set up an enquiry committee and it identified 254 documents that nobody had taken out deliberately. All in-house training documents such as drawings of Vikas engine were available every time. It is baseless to say that few drawings, sketches on subsystems of rocket will help a third country build a rocket, it indicates. No major items were detected from the accused and none of the accused had violated the Official Secrets Act. Similarly, all 16800 sheets in the fabrication division were found intact with Sasikumar. No evidence was found in the case by Kerala police and IB. There was no diary entry on spy case nor any indication of that in the diary of the accused Mariam Rasheeda, though she had regularly maintained a diary.