R Madhavan starrer ‘Rocketry: The Nambi Effect’ has been a great success at the box office. Depicting the story of the scientist Nambi Narayanan, the film shows how one of India’s finest minds was subjected to pain, suffering, and utter humiliation at the hands of authorities by implicating him in a false espionage case. However, the film’s success has displeased quite a few people as well.
From motivated reviews criticising the film, to critics having problems with Nambi Narayanan being shown as a Hindu despite being a Hindu, the film faced some ludicrous comments. Evidently, the film hasn’t gone down well with the leftist propaganda website The Caravan as well, as they try to slander Nambi Narayanan one more time.
In the wake of the film’s success and people appreciating the story, Caravan decided to replug its article from the magazine’s November 2020 edition which portrays Narayanan as a spy who sold Indian secrets to foreigners.
Replug | “Have you seen Nambi?” Sasikumaran asked @nileenams.
— The Caravan (@thecaravanindia) July 31, 2022
“Nambi looks like a European with his long beard and like Einstein and all.” He added, “He is, however, a kallan”—loosely translated as thief or someone driven by extreme self-interest: https://t.co/pL7hkQnaGP pic.twitter.com/75oE7RuvVx
In its article, Caravan once again dredges up the allegations of espionage against the ISRO scientist which were found to have no basis in reality by the CBI probe. The role of the Intelligence Bureau and Kerala Police in the initial investigation had also come under question.
However, Caravan goes on to cast aspersions on the entire CBI probe which found Nambi Narayanan innocent. It further goes on to imply that the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao was personally responsible for scuttling the CBI probe since the bureau reported directly to him. It is another matter that the chief judicial magistrate approved the CBI report in 1996, and even when CPM government in Kerala tried to initiate a new probe, the esteemed Supreme Court of India struck down the request in 1998 seeing no merit in the case.
In an article full of hearsay, insinuations, and wild conclusions, Caravan not only tries to portray Nambi Narayanan as guilty in the ISRO espionage case but also casts aspersions on his entire professional career in ISRO. The article repeatedly attempts to run down Narayanan’s competency as a scientist and his contributions to ISRO throughout his career.
It is interesting that Caravan had decided to bring up these allegations again despite Nambi Narayanan being vindicated every step of the way, from the CBI probe to the Supreme Court and even in the National Human Rights Commission. In fact, a Supreme Court-appointed committee had even pointed a conspiracy by Kerala Police to frame Narayanan and others in the ISRO espionage case last year. Based on the committee’s report, FIR was lodged against 18 Kerala Police officers. Despite that, the success of the film ‘Rocketry- The Nambi Effect’ doesn’t seem to have gone down well in the Caravan office for some reason.
How Nambi Narayanan was framed in the ISRO espionage case
In 1994, ISRO scientist S Nambi Narayanan was arrested by Kerala police with some of his fellows including D Sasikumaran, K Chandrashekhar, and a few others on the charges of selling classified information about India’s cryogenic engine program to Russia and Pakistan’s ISI. The Kerala police had launched the case on the basis of input received from the Intelligence Bureau (IB). However, when the case was soon handed over to the CBI, the CBI found that the case was fabricated and the defendants were being falsely accused by the Kerala police. The CBI probe revealed that there was no case within a month of their apprehension. However, the matter lingered on because of its involvement with Kerala politics.
The role played by IB had come into question, as the so-called evidence of spying had come from the agency, based on which the police had acted.
The CBI eventually informed the chief judicial magistrate in May 1996 that the espionage case was untrue and that there was no supporting proof. The report was approved by the court, and all of the accused were cleared. However, the newly elected CPI(M)-led government chose to play by its own rules and ordered more investigations until, in May 1998, the Supreme Court struck down Kerala’s request for a new probe.
Since then, the Kerala government has shielded the corrupt cops and delayed paying the compensation that was mandated by the High Court and the National Human Rights Commission. In order to begin criminal procedures against the police officers who allegedly falsified evidence against him, Narayanan filed a petition in April 2017. RB Sreekumar, who was recently arrested with Teesta Setalvad on 25th June 2022 for his false testimony in the Gujarat riots case, was one of those police officers.
Based on the petition of Narayanan, the Supreme Court appointed a three-member committee to look into the matter. After the D.K. Jain Committee report pointed out a conspiracy by Kerala police and others to frame the scientist, the apex court ordered CBI to probe the case last year. Accordingly, CBI conducted an in-depth investigation and filed an FIR against several police officials based on the committee report.
In the FIR filed by the CBI, RB Sreekumar was one of the 18 accused named in the case, along with the then Kerala police chief Sibi Mathew. Sreekumar was on deputation to IB when the espionage case against Narayanan was started. While he had denied any link with the case, Narayanan had named him as one of the conspirators.
