New Delhi Feb 25 PTI The Supreme Court Friday said it would hear on March 11 the CBIs plea against the Kerala High Court order granting anticipatory bail to four persons including a former Director-General of Police DGP in a case about the alleged framing of scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 ISRO espionage caseThe high court had on August 13 last year granted anticipatory bail to former Gujarat DGP R B Sreekumar two former police officers of Kerala -- S Vijayan and Thampi S Durga and a retired intelligence official P S Jayaprakash -- in connection with the caseSreekumar was then the Deputy Director of the Intelligence BureauSolicitor General Tushar Mehta told a bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and C T Ravikumar that he needed some time as the Additional Solicitor General ASG S V Raju assisting the court in the matter is in some personal difficulty and some documents are still awaitedI need some time Mr Raju ASG is assisting your lordships There is some personal difficulty on his part and otherwise also some documents are awaited Mehta told the benchHe requested the apex court to post the matter after two weeksThe bench said the matter would be heard on March 11The CBI had earlier told the apex court that a grant of anticipatory bail might derail the investigation in the caseThe CBI had said that it has found in its probe that some scientists were tortured and framed in the matter due to which development of the cryogenic engine was hit and this led to Indias space programme going back by almost one or two decadesThe investigating agency had earlier alleged that there was a clear indication that the accused were part of a team which had ulterior motives to torpedo the attempts of the ISRO for manufacturing the cryogenic engineWhile granting anticipatory bail to these accused persons the high court had said There is not even a scintilla of evidence regarding the petitioners being influenced by any foreign power so as to induce them to hatch a conspiracy to falsely implicate the scientists of the ISRO with the intention to stall the activities of the ISRO with regard to the development of the cryogenic engine It had said unless there are specific materials regarding their involvement prima facie it cannot be said that they were acting against the interests of the country The CBI has registered a case against 18 persons for various alleged offences including criminal conspiracy in connection with the arrest and detention of former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan in the espionage caseThe case which had hit the headlines in 1994 pertained to allegations of transfer of certain confidential documents on Indias space programme to foreign countries by two scientists and four others including two Maldivian womenNarayanan who was given a clean chit by the CBI had earlier said that the Kerala police had fabricated the case and the technology he was accused to have stolen and sold in the 1994 case did not even exist at that time The CBI in its probe had said that the then top police officials in Kerala were responsible for Narayanans illegal arrestThe apex court had on September 14 2018 appointed a three-member committee while directing the Kerala government to cough up Rs 50 lakh compensation for compelling Narayanan to undergo immense humiliationTerming the police action against the ex-scientist of the Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO as a psycho-pathological treatment the apex court had in September 2018 said that his liberty and dignity basic to his human rights were jeopardised as he was taken into custody and eventually despite all the glory of the past was compelled to face cynical abhorrence PTI ABA ABA RKS RKS

New Delhi Jan 29 PTI The Supreme Court would hear on February 25 the appeal of CBI challenging the anticipatory bail granted to four persons including a former Director-General of Police DGP who are accused of framing scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 ISRO espionage case The probe agency sought adjournment of the hearing and four weeks time for filing rejoinder to the replies filed by the accused police officers to its appeal challenging the grant of anticipatory bail saying that some of its officials dealing with the case were down with COVID-19 The hearing on the CBIs special leave petition SLP against the Kerala High Court order granting pre-arrest bail to senior police and intelligence officers was listed for hearing on Friday before a bench comprising justices A M Khanwilkar and C T Ravikumar The bench has now listed the case for hearing on February 25 Earlier in November last year the top court had agreed to hear the CBIs appeal and had issued notices to R B Sreekumar former DGP of Gujarat Vijayan Thampi S Durga Dutt and P S Jayaprakash The high court had on August 13 last year granted anticipatory bail to the four accused The CBI said that it has found that some scientists were tortured and framed in the matter due to which the development of the cryogenic engine was hit and this led to India space programme going back by almost one or two decades The investigating agency had earlier alleged that there was a clear indication that the accused were part of a team which had ulterior motives to torpedo the attempts of the ISRO for manufacturing the cryogenic engine While granting anticipatory bail to these persons the high court had said There is not even a scintilla of evidence regarding the petitioners being influenced by any foreign power so as to induce them to hatch a conspiracy to falsely implicate the scientists of the ISRO with the intention to stall the activities of the ISRO with regard to the development of the cryogenic engine It had said unless there are specific materials regarding their involvement prima facie it cannot be said that they were acting against the interests of the country The CBI has registered a case against 18 persons for various alleged offences including criminal conspiracy in connection with the arrest and detention of former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan in the espionage case The case which had hit the headlines in 1994 pertained to allegations of transfer of certain confidential documents on Indias space programme to foreign countries by two scientists and four others including two Maldivian women Narayanan who was given a clean chit by the CBI had earlier said that the Kerala police had fabricated the case and the technology he was accused to have stolen and sold in the 1994 case did not even exist at that time The CBI in its probe had said that the then top police officials in Kerala were responsible for Narayanans illegal arrest The apex court had on September 14 2018 appointed a three-member committee while directing the Kerala government to cough up Rs 50 lakh compensation for compelling Narayanan to undergo immense humiliation Terming the police action against the ex-scientist of the Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO as a psycho-pathological treatment the apex court had in September 2018 said that his liberty and dignity basic to his human rights were jeopardised as he was taken into custody and eventually despite all the glory of the past was compelled to face cynical abhorrence PTI SJK SJK RT RT