Former cop claims he is wrongly implicated

Thiruvananthapuram: Former special branch inspector S. Vijayan says he’s wrongly implicated in the torturing of former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan even as he was not involved in his arrest or interrogation.

In a social media post, Mr Vijayan also said that he met Mr Narayanan for the first time only in 2012 while the ISRO cases were registered in 1994.

“While the Special Investigation Team led by then DIG Siby Mathews arrested him and other ISRO scientists, I was on medical leave following chickenpox,” he said.

According to Mr Vijayan, who retired as an SP, he initiated the cases against the Maldivian women in 1994 as per an intelligence bureau report.

“The first case was initiated against Mariyam Rasheeda based on an IB report that she was spying on Maldivians in the city against the Maldivian government. IB officials from Bangalore nabbed Fousiya Hassan and handed over to me in Thiruvananthap-uram, and I recorded the arrest,” said the post.

Mr Vijayan also said that though Ms Rasheeda was found to have links with some ISRO officials, the initial case against her was only for overstaying owing to lack of clear information regarding her connection with ISRO officials.

He said that a second case was registered as per IB Thiruvananthapuram unit’s directive as there was evidence for an illegal nexus of ISRO officials with Fousiya Hassan linked with Ms Rasheeda.

This case was initiated as per the Official Secrets Act 1923 as the officials of a notified agency like ISRO was found to have unlawful links with foreign persons and not on charges of passing on any secret information.

Mr Vijayan also accused that Mr Narayanan even while working with ISRO was working for a private contractor Kurian Kalattil. A land-phone connection taken in the name of Kurian Kalattil was installed at Mr Narayanan’s house. Moreover, Mr Narayanan had also applied for VRS even before the spy case emerged, he pointed out.