THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A local court hearing the anticipatory bail plea of former DGP Siby Mathews on Wednesday directed the CBI to produce the case diaries of the 1994 ISRO espionage case and the ongoing conspiracy case. The CBI is expected to produce the case diaries when the court takes up the case for hearing again on Friday.
The CBI had taken over the 1994 espionage case registered by the state police, which had charged then ISRO scientists Nambi Narayanan and D Sasikumar, among others, for leaking sensitive data to external agencies. Later in 1996, the CBI concluded that the case was fabricated and that resulted in discharge of all accused.
The CBI once again came into the picture after the Supreme Court recently ordered it to probe whether there was any conspiracy behind the espionage case. The central agency in May filed an FIR against 18 former officers of the Intelligence Bureau and the state police and levelled 10 charges against them.
It was after this CBI move that Siby and another former cop, K K Joshua, approached the court seeking an interim relief. Principal District and Sessions Judge P Krishnakumar on Wednesday partially heard the arguments of the ex-cop and Nambi Narayanan and Maldivian native Mariyam Rasheeda.
Siby’s legal counsel argued that the espionage case was not fabricated and the police had taken action against Narayanan and others on the basis of information provided by the Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing. But the counsel for Narayanan and Rasheeda raised objections and opposed the bail pleas. Their contention was that the case was fabricated and it was on the insistence of Siby that they were tortured in police custody.