Spies and sex always make for good copy. They sometimes make for sordid politics. In 1994, some imaginative police officers in Kerala and, regrettably, some elements in the Intelligence Bureau sought to use the potent mix to malign a colleague close to the Congress.In the process, they created an incredible case that placed six innocents behind bars for allegedly stealing secrets of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Somewhere in between, the case got tangled in the hard-ball CPI(M) versus Congress politics of the state and caused the E.K. Nayanar Government to behave in a manner - as the Supreme Court has been constrained to observe - not in conformity with "the known pattern of a responsible government bound by the rule of law". The apex court judgement scotching the state Government's efforts to reopen the case and the Rs 1 lakh compensation to the six, who include two top ISRO scientists and two Maldivian nationals, cannot really undo what the victims have undergone - even if it has sent a salutary message to those who think that being in office entitles them to do what they like.It is not just the six who suffered. The country's space programme did too. In the years S. Nambinarayanan, one of those persecuted, spent in jail, India lost his services as the leader of the team handling the critical cryogenic rocket motor for the geo-stationary satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) project. Had the Kerala Government accepted the acquittal in June 1996, based on the CBI's finding that there was no truth in the allegations, the case would have been seen as an unfortunate lapse of judgement. Instead, the state administration mixed it up with its anti-Congress agenda. It tried to get the CBI off the case and pursue the investigations on its own. Somebody should tell Nayanar that he has been elected to govern, not pursue vendetta..preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}Published By: AtMigration Published On: May 11, 1998--- ENDS ---
