THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Close on the heels of Nambi Narayanan, Maldivian nationals Mariyam Rasheeda and Fousiya Hassan also approached the Principal Sessions Court in Thiruvananthapuram challenging the anticipatory bail plea of two former cops in connection with the ISRO conspiracy case.
The two women have sought permission from the Principal Sessions Court to join as a party to the hearing of the anticipatory bail plea filed by former Kerala police officers Siby Mathews and K K Joshua, who were named by the CBI as accused in the case.
The court had earlier granted Mathews immunity from arrest. The next hearing of the bail plea will be held on Monday. The hearing was postponed as the bail petitions of the first two accused are under consideration by the High Court. Former Special Branch Inspector S Vijayan and former Vanchiyoor Sub-inspector Thampi S Durgadutt are the first and second accused, respectively.
The court accepted the requests of the Maldivian women, who were arrested by Kerala Police in 1994 on charges of honey-trapping senior ISRO scientists to obtain vital information regarding the space programmes of the country that were then leaked to foreign espionage agencies. In the subsequent probe, it turned out that the charges were fabricated and the accused were discharged by the court for want of evidence.
On the Supreme Court's directive, the CBI had initiated a probe to unravel the conspiracy behind the ISRO espionage case. The agency was asked to check whether there was a conspiracy to frame Nambi Narayanan, who headed the cryogenics division in ISRO. The agency in May filed an FIR where 18 former officers of the state police and Intelligence Bureau were named as accused.