Was forced to name ISRO scientist: Maldivian lady

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two days after the Supreme Court ordered a fresh probe to find out if there was a conspiracy in the 27-year-old ISRO spy case, one of the then 'falsely' implicated Maldivian lady on Saturday revealed that the Kerala police brutally tortured her to say the name of ISRO scientist S. Nambi Narayanan.

The ISRO spy case surfaced in 1994 when Narayanan was arrested on charges of espionage along with another senior official of ISRO, two Maldivian women and a businessman.

Of the two women, Fousia Hassan presently settled in Sri Lanka told a TV channel here that she had never even heard the name of Narayanan.

"I was brutally tortured by the police and when I refused to name him, they said they will arrest my daughter who was a student and rape her. It was after that did I say the name of Narayanan," said Hassan.

She said she was forced to say that Narayanan and another person took dollars from her for sharing the secrets of ISRO.

She also said that just like Narayanan who was given a compensation, she also has to be paid the compensation as she has health issues because of because of the brutalities she suffered during the interrogation.

The ISRO spy case has now surfaced through the new directive, which came after the apex court appointed a three member committee headed by retired SC judge D.K. Jain to probe if there was a conspiracy among then police officials to falsely implicate Narayanan and on Thursday the apex court which went through the report ordered the CBI to conduct the new probe and it can treat this report as the preliminary document. The court also asked the CBI to submit its report in three months. (IANS)