THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said the true motives behind the fabrication of the ISRO spy case need to be investigated. Handing over a cheque for the compensation amount of Rs 50 lakh ordered by the Supreme Court at the Secretariat, he said the government is examining whether the police officers responsible for torturing Nambi Narayanan can be held accountable for the money.
The spy case broke when Nambi Narayanan and other scientists were on the threshold of a major scientific breakthrough. An investigation is needed to ascertain whether anyone intended to prevent or delay it, Pinarayi said.
Rather than deposit the compensation in the former scientist’s bank account or present it privately, the government had decided it would be proper to hand it over at a public function, Pinarayi said. The Supreme Court had awarded Rs 50 lakh as compensation to Nambi Narayanan on September 14. The Cabinet decided to release the amount on September 27. At the time, Pinarayi had made it clear the Law Department has been asked to examine the possibility of recovering the money from the police officers concerned.
Nambi Narayanan urged the Chief Minister to help the other victims of the spy scandal who had chosen to remain silent all these years. Now in their old age, their situation was pathetic, he said. He said there was more to the case than a political intrigue to oust K Karunakaran as the Chief Minister.