THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As many as 18 former police officers, including those who served in the Kerala police and intelligence bureau during the Isro espionage case, have been named as accused in the FIR submitted by the CBI in the chief judicial magistrate court here, in connection with the case.
The accused in the FIR from first to seventh includes S Vijayan (former CI, Pettah), Thampi S Durgadath (former SI, Pettah), V R Rajiven (former city police commissioner, T’puram), Sibi Mathews (who was then DIG crimes), K K Joshua (then DSP), Raveendran Nair (former IB officer) and R B Sreekumar (then deputy director, IB).
The then IB unit head in the state Mathew John is the 13 accused in the FIR.
The other accused includes former IB officers CRR Nair, G S Nair, K V Thomas, P S Jayaprakash, John Punnan, Baby, Dinta Mathiyas and V K Maini, and other former Kerala police officers, including G Baburaj and S Jogesh.
The CBI had registered a case in May this year in compliance with the order passed by the SC on April 15 this year, in connection with the ISRO espionage case.
The court had ordered the CBI to look into the justice D K Jain committee report on some of the senior state police officers, who had framed Isro scientist Nambi Narayanan in the espionage case.
Narayanan had taken up the matter for taking action against the erring officers to the SC .
The Supreme Court vide its judgment on September 14, 2018, had awarded a compensation of Rs 50 lakh to Narayanan and also had ordered the constitution of a committee, for obtaining actual scenario, including the arrest and false implication of Narayanan in the case, and to find out ways for taking appropriate steps against the erring officers.
Accordingly, a committee under the chairmanship of D K Jain was constituted .
The committee submitted its report before the court.
Based on report, the court had directed CBI to proceed in the matter in accordance with law, being a court-directed inquiry.