On November 9, 2022, a rocket scientist at Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Praveen Maurya, took on LinkedIn to allege that some spies have been coercing him to share certain classified information on India’s space program with them. He further alleged that those spies threatened him when he refused to yield to their demands. Furthermore, Maurya said some senior officers of ISRO and Kerala police were involved in the matter.
OpIndia spoke to Mr Maurya who gave us access to complaints and other documents that Maurya shared with Prime Minister’s office and other departments related to the threats and harassment he faced. He requested an intelligence inquiry into the matter.
Communication regarding bad APAR grading to stop the promotion
In January 2022, Maurya wrote to the Chief Controller at VSSC, ISRO alleging the senior officials were creating hurdles in the promotion of certain employees to stop them from reaching a decision-making post. He alleged that such acts were being achieved by either giving bad APAR grading or by not recommending the employee for promotion despite good APAR grading.
Maurya said he had faced mental harassment during his promotion in 2018, and to avoid similar circumstances, he expressed his unwillingness not to apply for a promotion due in January 2022. However, his seniors asked him to attend the promotion interview. He alleged the scenario was different during the interview, and the seniors allegedly told him that he “does not deserve a promotion. Department is seriously considering to terminate you”. He further added that he was given bad APAR grading and questioned whether he was told that it “was felt to give you this grading”.
In March 2022, he received a reply retaining his previous rating with a remark that no further communication on this concern would be entertained.
The case against Maurya under POCSO Act
A person named Ajikumar Surendren, who he alleged was working for some people in Dubai, approached him to carry out espionage. He promised him colossal money in exchange for some confidential information from ISRO.
Praveen Maurya further alleged that Ajikumar Surendren offered him to become a permanent spy. When he refused, Ajikumar Surendren used his daughter to implicate him in a false POCSO case. This, Maurya alleged, was done in collusion with Kerala police. Some senior ISRO officers were also helping Ajikumar Surendren to execute his plan. Thereafter Ajikumar offered to take back the POCSO case if he agreed to comply with his demands, alleged Praveen Maurya.
As per the documents accessed by OpIndia, the said case was registered in February 2022. In a written request on April 14, 2022, to Thumba Police Station and Commission of Police, Trivandrum, for a thorough and impartial inquiry into the matter, Maurya detailed how he was allegedly trapped in the case.
He wrote he was on an evening walk after dinner as per his schedule on February 5, 2022. After walking for a while, he sat on a bench and started listing to audiobooks with headphones. “After some time, one teenage girl came near the bench and started smoking. As I am a non-smoker and it was a public place, I asked the girl not to smoke there. She was unaffected by my request and kept on smoking and replied to me, “If you want to smoke, you can also smoke”. I got flabbergasted by her audacity and inquired about her studies. After some time, a boy also came there, and I inquired about his studies, ambition, and career goals. Then they both left, and I was still sitting there on the bench listening to audiobooks with my headphones.”
The situation did not strike as unusual at first, but he was met with a shock when at around 11:30 PM, police came to his doorstep. He said, “I was preparing to sleep, but suddenly my doorbell rang. When I opened the door, I was surprised to see Two Policemen, Ajikumar and his friend and that boy. My first reaction to the police was, “Was this a setup? Were you people planning to trap me?” The Police arrested me and took me to the police station immediately at around 11:50 PM on February 5 2022. The FIR was filed the next day, February 6 2022. I was sent to jail on February 6, and currently, I am suspended from my post at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.”
First communication to PM
On April 27, 2022, Maurya wrote to the Prime Minister about the case in which he provided more information about Ajitkumar. He said Ajitkumar had approached him in the last quarter of 2021. He had informed him that he lived in the same building as Maurya on the 19th floor. He questioned if Maurya worked at ISRO and questioned about the projects he was working on, to which Maurya told him he was working on the Gaganyan project.
A few days later, Ajitkumar again met him and asked more questions about ISRO, its missions and projects. This time, Maurya refused to answer his questions. In the second half of January 2022, he visited Maurya’s flat and said, “If you provide me with the required information and data about ISRO as and when asked, I know some people in Dubai, we both will be handsomely rewarded. Your name will never come out as it will be done with utmost secrecy, and you don’t need to worry about anything.”
Maurya asked him to leave immediately. He threatened Ajitkumar not to contact him in the future or else he would report it to the police. While leaving, Ajitkumar allegedly threatened him to beware and “not to take any decision in haste”.
In the FIR, it was claimed that Maurya pretended to be friendly and constantly followed a minor living in the building with an “intent to sexually assault her”. The complainant claimed Maurya approached the minor, spoke to her in an obscene manner, touched the side of her right shoulder with his face, and compelled her to remove the mask. As per another communication to PMO in August 2022, it was mentioned that the FIR claimed Maurya attempted to sell weed (ganja) to the minor.
They alleged, I was selling weed (Ganja). How on earth a rocket scientist starts selling drugs to unknown minor girl at night 10:30 pm. I am there in Kerala for the last 12 years. Kerala police couldn’t find any evidence of drugs with me. Need Justice!
— Praveen Maurya (@praveen_isro) November 11, 2022
In his letter to the PM, Maurya alleged Sub Inspector Ashok Kumar N was allegedly threatening him to “obey and act in accordance with the dictates of Shri Ajikumar Surendren or otherwise I have to face serious consequences”. Maurya added, “He also informed me that if I undergo compromise with Shri Ajikumar Surendren, he will help me to get reinstated in ISRO as he is having good network among ISRO officials. As per the letter, from February 13, 2022, to April 25, 2022, he was allegedly contacted by SI Ashok Kumar N thirteen times.
Furthermore, Maurya said during his research about Ajitkumar, he found that that particular person lived in Dubai and returned to India in 2020. He was married to a Philippian woman and bought a lot of property in one year.
MP wrote to PM urging an investigation into the matter
On May 17, 2022, Praveen Maurya said that MP Ravindra Kushawaha wrote to the Prime Minister, urging him to order an inquiry into the matter. In his letter, Kushwaha said that the matter was serious as spies were approaching Maurya to leak mission secrets of ISRO. He further added that Maurya orally informed his higher officials, but no inquiry was initiated.
Maurya alleged VSSC employees were involved in the racket
In a letter to the ISRO Chairman, Prime Minister of India, and Home Minister of India on May 30, 2022, Maurya alleged that VSSC employees were not only present at the police station the day he was arrested but also passing on his personal information to SI Ashok Kumar N.
He alleged that this individual was passing information on him to SI Kumar, which was further forwarded to Ajitkumar. He urged an investigation into the alleged actions of this individual. Maurya alleged that SI Kumar already knew that his suspension might get revoked at least 16 days before it was actually revoked. Furthermore, SI Kumar knew the decision made by the committee at ISRO about revoking the suspension two days before it was communicated to Maurya.
He said, “Sub-inspector Ashok Kumar N had already known the details about the committee at ISRO headquarters, which is going to consider and revoke my suspension on April 25, 2022. He even knew the details of the letters which were sent from VSSC to ISRO headquarters from the beginning. Furthermore, I learned through the office that my suspension was revoked at 16:00 hours on May 11, 2022, while the sub-inspector Ashok Kumar N had already known this information at 09:48 hours on May 9 2022.” Maurya also shared a call recording on YouTube where the SI informed him about his suspension being revoked.
Furthermore, he alleged that an employee of his group was in contact with Ajitkumar and passing down the internal information of ISRO, for which he was ready to provide proof. He further named Dr Deependran B or someone under him to be involved with Ajitkumar and urged an investigation into it.
Allegations of racism at ISRO
Maurya, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, also alleged that there was evident racism at ISRO. He alleged that scientists and employees from the North or from outside Kerala were prohibited from getting promoted. He said, “It is a well-known fact that ISRO is infested with regional/language favouritism, and there is a covert movement in ISRO to sideline Hindi native scientists/engineers, but I could never imagine in my wildest dream that VSSC will stoop so low to falsely implicate its own officer in such a heinous crime by shaking hands with the enemy of the motherland, just because the said officer was not born in Kerala and does not speak the local dialect. For your kind information, even in my FIR, it is written that “Praveen is a north Indian.” Is being a north Indian a crime in Kerala?”
On May 31, 2022, Maurya informed the ISRO director he would not be able to rejoin work due to safety concerns.
On July 15, 2022, Maurya submitted a transfer request stating he would be able to contribute to ISRO with peace of mind and requested to transfer to any of the ISRO bases located in Delhi, Dehradun, Lucknow, Bhopal or Ahmedabad.
The alleged honey trap attempts
In another complaint to the Prime Minister’s office on August 5, 2022, Maurya mentioned after he got bail, there were attempts to honeytrap him. Maurya shared some of the screenshots of the WhatsApp messages sent for the alleged crime.
There were eight numbers from which Maurya received messages and requests to have video calls. When we checked those numbers, some were spam and fraudulent. One of the numbers was saved by someone as “Frod Girls”. Another number was saved as “Harassing with their videos”. Three out of eight numbers were marked as spam. Screenshots of the chats and Truecaller search are added below.
Recce of UP house
Maurya further alleged that people claiming to be officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) were seen doing recce at his house in Uttar Pradesh.
The complainant gave different statements
Maurya informed PMO that the statement given by the minor was different in FIR from the one that was given under Section 164 CrPC. The statement in FIR was given in the presence of the father, Ajitkumar and the statement under Section 164 CrPC was given in the presence of her mother. Notably, in her 164 statement, the complainant said, “Whenever I (the girl) was passing him (accused), he (accused) did not talk to me.” Maurya said that the girl was following and stalking him and not the other way around.
Furthermore, Maurya pointed out that there was no evidence or eyewitness of the alleged incident. Also, no electronic or telephonic communication ever happened between the accused and the complainant. Maurya and the girl never knew each other before the incident.
Letter to the Chief Justice of India
On August 9, 2022, Maurya wrote to the Chief Justice of India and urged them to direct investigating agencies to take up his case.
‘Complaints disposed of by ISRO without inquiry’ alleged Maurya
In a letter to the Chairman ISRO on November 5, 2022, Maurya alleged that he received “absurd and irresponsible” replies from the seniors for his complaints. He pointed out that the matter was being suppressed and ignored, possibly due to “political reasons”. Maurya alleged the senior officials, including the director at VCCS, were “blindly support[ing] the employees who speak their mother tongue even though the said employees were involved in anti-national activities.”
He questioned why intelligence inquiry was not allowed, and his request to PMO was disposed of without enquiry multiple times. He further pointed out that his transfer request was forwarded to B Anilkumar, who had earlier alleged to be involved with Ajitkumar. He also accused Deependran B of threatening him of termination on multiple occasions and said, “Just because Deependran is the relative of a former chairman, does not mean that he can get away with anything.”
