According to reports, Maldivian national Fauzia Hassan, who was imprisoned for over three years in Kerala in the fake ISRO spy case, has come out with a crucial revelation.
While interacting with a media organization, Fauzia reportedly said that former state police chief Raman Srivastava and others forced her to testify against Nambi Narayanan and Sasikumar. Fauzia said that when she refused to give a statement against Nambi and Sasikumar, Srivastava brutally harassed her by beating her and even threatened to rape her daughter in front of her. Fauzia's revelation comes just after the DK Jain Committee's inquiry report in the case, which they have submitted in the court.
According to Fauzia, she was forced to give a statement that Nambi and Sasikumar had given dollars to leak ISRO secrets. When she refused, she was physically harassed by the officials. She said, "They thrashed me on my chest and legs. They even threatened to rape my daughter in front of me. My daughter was studying in Mangalore at that time." She said she gave a false statement against Nambi since she had no other option.
Fauzia even said, "I did not even know the name of Nambi Narayanan. When my confession was recorded on camera, Nambi Narayanan's name was written on the back of the camera. I looked at it and read the name. Raman Srivastava was there watching it all. I saw Nambi Narayanan for the first time in the interrogation room."
She too wants compensation like Nambi Narayanan as she has severe health problems due to physical abuse. She reportedly said that she would cooperate with the CBI investigation in the case. Fauzia, who is originally from Mali, now lives in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Fauzia's revelations will be crucial as the CBI will start a probe into the conspiracy behind the case that shook the nation in the 90's.
On April 15, the Supreme Court has directed the registry to hand over the report handed in by the Justice DK Jain Committee in the ISRO ‘Spy’ case against scientist Nambi Narayanan to the CBI for further action. A bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar was considering the application submitted by the Centre seeking further action on the Jain Commission report in the case involving the role of erring police officers. The bench has asked the acting CBI director to take charge of the case and treat the report by the Jain panel as a preliminary inquiry to help conduct further investigations into the matter. The bench has also ordered the CBI to file a status report on its investigation in three months.
The spy case goes back to 1994 when the director of the cryogenic project lab of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) S Nambi Narayan, along with another scientist, was accused of selling classified information on the Indian cryogenic engine programme to Russia and Pakistan. The case had caught headlines when Maldivian national Rasheeda was arrested in Thiruvananthapuram for allegedly obtaining secret drawings of ISRO rocket engines to sell to Pakistan.
