Did CIA moles in IB fake the ISRO spy case?

Sukerchakia

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Why My Book Didn't Sell

The book Spies from Space: The Isro Frame-up detailed how the real traitors in the Isro espionage case were CIA moles in India's Intelligence Bureau. Is that why the book quickly disappeared from bookstores?

In 1998, immediately after the Supreme Court quashed the Kerala government notification to further investigate the sensational Isro espionage case, I wrote a book called Spies from Space: The Isro Frame-up. In the espionage case, the allegation was that two senior scientists in Isro—S Nambi Narayanan and D Sasi Kumaran—had sold documents and drawings relating to cryogenic missile technology to Mohammed Aslam, a Pakistani nuclear scientist. They had used as conduits two Maldivian women—Mariam Rasheeda and Fauziya Hassan—and Aleksey V Vasin of the Russian space agency Glavkosmos.

After 15 days of investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kerala Police, the case was transferred to the CBI, which after 18 months of investigation concluded it was 'false'. The agency submitted two confidential reports to the Union and Kerala governments listing respectively serious lapses by IB officials and SIT members. Action was recommended against them but both governments swept the reports under the carpet, afraid of opening a can of worms.

The Kerala government, in fact, issued a notification to further investigate the case, ostensibly to pre-empt the prosecution of police officers. The notification was challenged by the accused, the CBI and the Union government. The Supreme Court, on 29 April 1998, quashed the notification for being 'patently invalid"¦ issued with malafide intention"¦' Even after the final word on the espionage case was pronounced by the court, I felt that something crucial remained unexplored. If the espionage case was false, who planted it? What were the motives?

In 1997, a written statement issued jointly by five scientists—Sathish Dhawan, UR Rao, Yashpal, Rodham Narasimha and K Chandrasekhar—and TN Seshan gave me the first hint of 'outside interference' in the case. Dhawan and Rao were former Isro chairmen and sitting members of the Space Commission. Projected against the historicity of India's hunt for acquiring cryogenic technology and the hurdles posed by America to block the transfer of technology, the statement implied that this 'outside interference' was from the US.

My book, published by Konark Publishers, Delhi, was the second phase of my coverage of the Isro espionage case; the first was as the Kerala correspondent of the Magna group of magazines when I had filed over half a dozen reports based on court records, tell-tale documents, confidential police reports and direct interviews with the alleged 'spies'.

The book reveals that the espionage case, contrary to general perception, was made of different layers of conspiracies hatched by different agencies and people at different points of time, aiming at different targets. The nucleus, I argue, was hatched by the CIA to safeguard US commercial interests, and planted through its moles in the IB, using the Kerala police as a conduit.

The book quotes confidential letters sent by the Commissioner of Police, Thiruvananthapuram City, to the DGP of Kerala, which explain the role of DC Pathak, then Director, IB, in getting the espionage case registered under the Indian Official Secrets Act 1923, even though the Act makes it clear that the Kerala Police have no legal right to do so. (The Kerala High Court and Supreme Court have underlined this critically relevant point.) The book also questions the motive of Pathak in advising the Kerala DGP to constitute an SIT, even when many of the individuals and institutions allegedly involved in the espionage were in foreign countries.

On 27 September 1998, The Indian Express carried a two-page extract from my book. The Hindustan Times had equally good coverage on 4 October 1998. KPR Nair, proprietor of Konark, told me over the phone that he was excited about the pre-launch publicity, and expected sales of over 100,000 copies. Over a dozen newspapers and magazines, including The Times of India, Frontline, Outlook and Society, reviewed my book. The pre-launch publicity and reviews—some really rave—made me proud. In the first week of its release, the book figured on India Today's bestseller list in Delhi in the non-fiction section. And then mysteriously, the book disappeared from stores across India.

When I checked with the publisher, he told me that the book was not in demand. Given the publicity, this answer sounded illogical. One year later, he gave me a statement of sales of copies. The number of copies sold was less than 100. My friends and sources in the CBI told me that IB men bought the first batch of printed copies and warned the publisher against a reprint. That, on the other hand, was logical. My book strips the IB naked, and even names some of it high-profile officials. They obviously didn't want it to be read even though technically the book is in the public domain. I, however, have no proof of this.

[When Open contacted KPR Nair of Konark, he stated that the IB's involvement in suppressing sales of the book is mere speculation on the author's part and "not a single soul called me" about it. He says that he clarified to the author in a letter that of the 1,103 copies printed in 1998, there were domestic sales of 407 books in that financial year, for which the author was paid a royalty of Rs 10,717. The unsold copies were returned to Konark by bookstores. "Why should I listen to any government? I put in my money and took the responsibility and risk to publish the book. Why would I publish something to lose money?" asks Nair.]

The move to sabotage Isro's cryogenic programme began on 18 January 1991, the date on which Isro signed the agreement, 800-1/50, with Glavkosmos, the Russian space agency. The agreement went against US business interests in two ways.

The price quoted by Glavkosmos for the transfer of technology and supply of three cryogenic engines was Rs 235 crore, nearly 400 per cent less than what America's General Dynamics had quoted. The undercutting caused serious concern over sales of American rocket technology elsewhere. Secondly, the price-per-kg–payload fixed for the GSLV to launch satellites into geosynchronous orbit, 36,000 km from Earth, was less than half the price quoted by US vehicles. This, too, meant a market hit for America.


In May 1992, the US imposed sanctions on Glavkosmos and Isro for two years, stating that the agreement violated provisions of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). The agreement did not violate the MTCR because the purpose of the GSLV is to launch communication satellites. The then US State Secretary also sent a letter, through a diplomatic channel, to Boris Yeltsin, expressing America's displeasure over the agreement. On 16 July 1993, the Russian government cancelled the agreement, invoking 'force majeure'.

A new agreement was signed between Isro and Glavkosmos in 1993 after deleting the technology transfer clause. This time, America had no objections and the engines reached Isro on time. The message was clear: America did not want India to acquire Russian cryogenic rocket technology and become a potential competitor in the space business.

On the other hand, as soon as the first agreement was signed, Glavkosmos and Isro had anticipated American interference and already moved to pre-empt it. They started working on a joint plan to fabricate cryogenic engines in India. The idea was to entrust the work to an external agency as job work, for which transfer of technology was necessary. Such a transfer, as part of the work order, would not attract MTCR provisions. If the technology reached Isro through that agency, technically, neither Glavkosmos nor Isro could be blamed. Aleksey V Vasin, officer-in-charge of cryogenic technology in Glavkosmos, took the initiative on the Russian side. Indian reciprocity had the approval of UR Rao, then Isro chairman. The firm both parties zeroed in on to get cryogenic engines fabricated was Kerala Hi-tech Industries Limited (KELTEC) in Thiruvananthapuram, the present BrahMos Aerospace. It was also expected that Rao, after his retirement, would man KELTEC.

Documents published in my book show that initiatives to get cryogenic engines fabricated at KELTEC began on 4 March 1992, two months before America imposed sanctions on Isro and Glavkosmos, and 14 months before Russia had to cancel the 1991 agreement. Glavkosmos and Isro had agreed on a Rs 100 crore joint venture. At that last meeting, held in the second week of November 1994, the Russian team, led by Alexander I Dunaev, Chairman, Glavkosmos, had agreed to invest in the joint venture from an Escrow Account in India.

Besides, efforts were made to advance the supply of raw materials and spare parts from Glavkosmos to Isro since Glavkosmos foresaw the possibility of the agreement being cancelled under US pressure. Though Isro contacted Air India, it was not ready to carry the cargo without proper Customs clearance. And, that was not possible without the American lobby in Russia coming to know about it. So Isro entered an agreement with Ural Airlines, which was ready to take the risk for a little extra money.

America knew what was happening between Glavkosmos and Isro. It also knew that further arm-twisting at the diplomatic level would not be productive. So the CIA was entrusted with the job of aborting the circumlocutory transfer of cryogenic rocket technology through KELTEC, and of stalling or discrediting the transportation of raw materials and spare parts to Isro.

It was when the CIA was waiting for an opportune moment that a Malayalam eveninger reported the arrest of a Maldivian woman, Mariam Rasheeda, for overstaying in India.

The woman, the police found, had contact with D Sasi Kumaran, deputy director in the cryogenic project. In that single-column news report, the CIA saw its entry point, and its moles in the IB sprung into action. As per the advice of the Director, IB, the Kerala Police registered the espionage case under the Official Secrets Act. The IB gave illegal orders, and the SIT obeyed, in full knowledge that this was an act equally illegal. The IB tortured Nambi Narayanan, the key negotiator with Glavkosmos, for acquiring the cryogenic technology and then project director of Cryogenic Systems, to get him to name Dr AE Muthunayakam, director, Liquid Propulsion System Centre, and UR Rao as members of the 'spy ring'. But the interrogators failed before the bold stand of the scientist. The IB officials questioned V Sudhakar, MD of KELTEC; got Aleksey Vasin grilled at Moscow; and even made an attempt to implicate him in the espionage case. The Glavkosmos-KELTEC joint venture was nipped in the bud. The IB implicated Ural after airing the lie that Ural had, as part of the espionage activities, transported documents from Isro to Glavkosmos. (Ural had made three flights to India with materials from Glavkosmos, the fourth didn't come. By this time, the IB had implicated Ural Airlines). There is one common factor that links these institutions and individuals. It is that they were all connected to India's cryogenic programme in one way or the other.

My book quotes a 'top secret' note sent by DC Pathak to the Cabinet Secretary, Home Minister, and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, wherein he has stated that the DGP, Kerala 'had been requested to enlarge the structure of the case"¦ u/s 3 and 4 of the Indian Official Secrets Act'. It was by invoking the Official Secrets Act, unlawfully, that the moles in the IB could give the fabricated case a trans-national dimension, implicate Aleksy Vasin and Ural Airlines, besides the Indian scientists and institutions, and shatter Isro's cryogenic programme.

When the CBI took over the case, the SIT gave an unsigned note to the CBI's investigating officer. It had a list of individuals to be arrested, immediately, by the CBI. The first two names were: Rao and Muthunayakam. (G Madhavan Nair, former Chairman, Isro, at a public meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on 10 December 2012, said: "But for the timely transfer of the case to CBI, more than 100 Isro scientists would have been behind bars.")

What about the charge that the cryogenic missile technology was transferred from Isro to enemy countries? To begin with, India does not have cryogenic technology even today. How could then, in 1994, 'spies' transfer this non-existent technology? The term 'missile technology' implies that Isro is manufacturing war weapons. With both the IB and Kerala Police putting it on record that cryogenic missile technology had been sneaked out from Isro, they were, in fact, endorsing the allegation of Pakistan and the US that Isro is making war weapons.

A statement of facts by the Isro chairman or Space Commission could have prevented the spy case from snowballing. But they feared that they too would be branded as spies. For, DC Pathak had informed K Kasthurirangan, then Chairman, Isro, that incriminating documents had been seized from the scientists. The technocrats were forced to believe the scientifically absurd espionage theory.

That there are moles of the CIA in the IB may be difficult to believe. But it is a fact. Certain incidents happened in the IB, parallel to the build-up of the Isro espionage case, which have not been explained by the Government or explored by the media. Though the IB, RAW and Kerala Police had grilled Mariam Rasheeda and Fauzia Hassan, twice, before Mariam was arrested, all the three agencies recorded that there was nothing worth probing in the activities of the Maldivian women. The issue took a dramatic turn and developed into a major spy scandal following the visit of MK Dhar, joint director, IB, to Thiruvananthapuram a few days after Mariam's arrest was reported by the media. DC Pathak, director, IB, was unceremoniously shown the door, even before the CBI had concluded that the spy case was false. No reason has been cited for his sudden removal. Rattan Sehgal, chief of the crack counter-intelligence unit, was forced to resign on 17 November 1996, for having a secret rendezvous with two undercover CIA agents. It could be sheer coincidence that the Isro spy case hit headlines within five months of Sehgal joining the IB as its additional director. My book raises these disturbing facts. If my book is false and baseless, I should have been prosecuted long back.

Three years after my book was published, Brian Harvey, a former BBC correspondent, described how the CIA sabotaged India's cryogenic dreams in his book, Russia in Space: The Failed Frontier? More importantly, the joint statement by five top scientists in India and TN Seshan reads: 'The espionage case reveals that the country's space programme, or for that matter other strategic programmes, may no longer be immune to outside interference.' For any responsible government, all this is more than sufficient material to order a comprehensive probe. But none of the seven governments that came to power in India after the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kochi, dismissed the Isro espionage case as 'false' took any effective step to identify who all were instrumental in fabricating it.

It leads to a very disturbing question: who are the traitors? Those who had 'spied' and given cryogenic rocket technology to Pakistan even though we don't have that technology? Or, as I have shown in my book, the IB, which planted the Isro espionage story, through the Kerala Police, to promote American business interests? Or the successive governments, since 1995, that have been trying their best not to allow into the public domain any discussion on who fabricated the Isro espionage case and why?
 

Sukerchakia

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The article is bit long winded. Basically, the book's author alleges that CIA penetrated IB (or used its moles elsewhere) to nix India's plans of acquiring cryogenic technology from the Ruskies. This was because a) The Ruskies quoted a price far less than that of American firms, thus cutting into their market and b) they simply didn't want India to have that advanced a technology.

The allegations of the author might be false but the way the case was hushed up is indeed confusing.
 

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The article is bit long winded. Basically, the book's author alleges that CIA penetrated IB (or used its moles elsewhere) to nix India's plans of acquiring cryogenic technology from the Ruskies. This was because a) The Ruskies quoted a price far less than that of American firms, thus cutting into their market and b) they simply didn't want India to have that advanced a technology.

The allegations of the author might be false but the way the case was hushed up is indeed confusing.
It would be unfortunate if the CIA really used its resources in that way. Certainly there are more important efforts in that part of the world which lack enough resources.
 

Bhadra

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It would be unfortunate if the CIA really used its resources in that way. Certainly there are more important efforts in that part of the world which lack enough resources.
Sir, CIA does what it does ! To protesct US interests. Now US interest may be anything including India not achieving a capability. CIA has not been much friendly to Indian interests in the past as eveident from the published material...
 

W.G.Ewald

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Sir, CIA does what it does ! To protesct US interests. Now US interest may be anything including India not achieving a capability. CIA has not been much friendly to Indian interests in the past as eveident from the published material...
But CIA should have priorities. Anti-terrorism should be at the top and economic leverage far down its list.
 

aerokan

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But CIA should have priorities. Anti-terrorism should be at the top and economic leverage far down its list.
Priorities doesn't mean much when CIA have lot of tax payer money to waste and too many secrets to hide. CIA is well known for sabotage operations and toppling a lot of governments through rebel dictators, planting moles in royal families etc.. just because they are not in favor of US, not necessarily against. CIA is the most rogue organization in the world and that is not an overstatement by any stretch.:sad:
 

The Messiah

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The article is bit long winded. Basically, the book's author alleges that CIA penetrated IB (or used its moles elsewhere) to nix India's plans of acquiring cryogenic technology from the Ruskies. This was because a) The Ruskies quoted a price far less than that of American firms, thus cutting into their market and b) they simply didn't want India to have that advanced a technology.

The allegations of the author might be false but the way the case was hushed up is indeed confusing.
I believe the allegations are true but we'll never have "concrete" proof.
 

W.G.Ewald

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Priorities doesn't mean much when CIA have lot of tax payer money to waste and too many secrets to hide. CIA is well known for sabotage operations and toppling a lot of governments through rebel dictators, planting moles in royal families etc.. just because they are not in favor of US, not necessarily against. CIA is the most rogue organization in the world and that is not an overstatement by any stretch.:sad:
Nobody pays me to defend the CIA so I don't.
When I checked with the publisher, he told me that the book was not in demand. Given the publicity, this answer sounded illogical. One year later, he gave me a statement of sales of copies. The number of copies sold was less than 100. My friends and sources in the CBI told me that IB men bought the first batch of printed copies and warned the publisher against a reprint. That, on the other hand, was logical. My book strips the IB naked, and even names some of it high-profile officials. They obviously didn't want it to be read even though technically the book is in the public domain. I, however, have no proof of this.
Is it possible the book didn't sell because people did not find it compellimg?
 

tramp

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BJP's anger over Sreekumar is understandable he being key to fake encounter charges against Modi.

It is pointless blaming a single officer in ISRO spying case because the conspiracy must have been hatched at a much higher level. Sreekumar must hve been a small fry at that point. in time.

According to reports, the ISRO spying case was the handiwork of a mole in IB and I will not rule out at least one of the media organizations in Kerala with known past links to Western intelligence agencies hving taken an active part in the plot to discredit senior ISRO scientists and stop India's cryo programme.

Look at the result.... India is still struggling to successfully launch its cryo engine.

 

Ray

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It appears so.

But the Jury is out and will be out, since the Govt has to keep it under wraps, there being, possibly, a can of worms that may open,
 

Decklander

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It appears so.

But the Jury is out and will be out, since the Govt has to keep it under wraps, there being, possibly, a can of worms that may open,
Sir, it appears that congress conmen are outstandingly gud at exploiting such disgraced civil servants to serve their political interests. R Sreekumar was saved by UPA-1 and than he started speaking against NAMO. This does smell of another huge controvery and dirty game.
 

ersakthivel

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the poor scientists were accused of selling a cryogenic technology that is still not within our hands to advanced western countries.

And the career of the Nambi who was a peer of abdul kaalam was finished .And not even a formal check raid on his house was conducted.

Also the so called arrest of Moha rao the GTRE chief in a Spa and subsequent shifting of him from GTRE head position and the killing of Sivakumar Who was one of the key scientist of Arjun Mk-2 program needs some probing as well.

How come the key scientists involved in key strategic posts ,all are removed at critical stage like this in mysterious circumstances?
 
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ersakthivel

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BJP's anger over Sreekumar is understandable he being key to fake encounter charges against Modi.

It is pointless blaming a single officer in ISRO spying case because the conspiracy must have been hatched at a much higher level. Sreekumar must hve been a small fry at that point. in time.

According to reports, the ISRO spying case was the handiwork of a mole in IB and I will not rule out at least one of the media organizations in Kerala with known past links to Western intelligence agencies hving taken an active part in the plot to discredit senior ISRO scientists and stop India's cryo programme.

Look at the result.... India is still struggling to successfully launch its cryo engine.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/bjp-attacks-gujarat-dgp-sreekumar-rakes-up-isro-spy-case/432784-37.html

In the recording, which the party claimed is also available on the Internet, Sreekumar purportedly says, "Teesta helped me when the chargesheet (on fake encounters) was given to me."

Read more at: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/bjp-atta...py-case/432784-37.html?utm_source=ref_article


Lekhi alleged that "patriotic" scientist Nambi Narayan, who was a suspect in the ISRO spy case, was branded a traitor and also ill-treated and tortured by Sreekumar during his 50-day incarceration.

Later, Sreekumar was charged on nine counts including not preparing a written statement of interrogation of Narayanan, leaving the interrogation statements unsigned and undated and failing to conduct verification about the veracity of the statements of the accused persons as recorded by the team of IB officers without assigning any reasons.

This resulted in irreparable loss and humiliation to respectable scientists of ISRO and others, according to chargesheet. However, in 2004, the Home Ministry dropped seven of the nine charges against Sreekumar "without any inquiry". "As a part of the quid pro-quo, he was expected to launch a tirade full of lies and untruths against the BJP government in Gujarat for political reasons. Apparently, Sreekumar honoured his part of the deal with his political suitors and he continues to do the same even today," Lekhi alleged.
Can we ask why the chragesheet against Sree Kumar was quashed? he incarcerated some of the most prominent ISRO scientists who were peers of Abdul kalam for decades.

In my opinion if a new government other than UPA comes to power it should throughly investigate this matter.


The conduct of kerala police in the ISRO spy case was severly criticized by the kerala high court and criminal proceedings on the IPS officers concerned is going on.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities...ment-says-former-scientist/article5062224.ece

It could be seen from the case diary of the Kerala Police, as explained by the CBI in its refer report, that all those working on cryogenic engine development in ISRO and Russian scientists who supported India and the Russian private airline (Ural Aviation) had been made accused. Ural Aviation was the airline which brought Russian cryogenic engines and other relevant items to India for the ISRO, he said.

Mr. Narayanan reiterated that Mr. Mathews had a definite plan that all persons working for development of cryogenic engine technology should be arrested to demoralise them. That was the reason why he was arrested in November 1994 without conducting any search of his office or residence and also without seizure of any incriminating evidence from him.

He said he did not earlier raise the allegation that his arrest was part of an agenda of the U.S. accomplished by the CIA conniving with Intelligence Bureau officials, Mr. Mathews and other Kerala police officials because he realised the agenda and criminal conspiracy only later when he himself investigated the entire episode once again.

Then he realised the fact that one Rattan Sehgal, who was the counter intelligence chief of the IB and was associated with the ISRO case investigation, was caught red-handed by the then IB chief Arun Bhagath.

He was accused of having worked for the CIA, which led to his unceremonious exit from the IB in November 1996.

The ISRO espionage case was investigated by a team of seven senior IPS officers of the CBI. These officers individually and collectively conducted the investigation /interrogation and filed the final report of the CBI, against the Kerala police officials and Intelligence Bureau officers who investigated the case.
http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl1707/17071320.htm

Significantly, the ISRO spy case did not end with the CJM's (Ernakulam) order. It came to a conclusion only two years later, on April 29, 1998, with the Supreme Court vindicating the six accused and other suspects, and reprimanding the Kerala Government for ordering yet another investigation by the State Police, even after the CBI inquiry had found the allegations of espionage false and the CJM court had ordered the release of all the accused.

In fact, Kerala Chief Minister E.K. Nayanar later said that there could be mistakes in decisions taken in good faith (as he described the one to conduct a further investigation) and the courts had every right to correct such mistakes. Yet, the defamation case against Frontline dragged on for two more year s.
So it is not such single police officer syndrome.
 
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ersakthivel

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Cryogenic countdown: How the GSLV became India's missile impossible | idrw.org

According to former rocket scientist Nambi Narayanan, who has been exonerated of spying charges by the Supreme Court, India's space exploration programme is still reeling under the impact of the indiscriminate arrests made under highly dubious charges.

In 1994 key scientists engaged in India's indigenous cryogenic engine were arrested by the Intelligence Bureau and the Kerala Police on charges of espionage. The most serious allegation was that they had fallen into a honey trap set up by a foreign intelligence agency – supposedly Pakistan's.

Back then nobody in the media asked this simple question? Why would India's leading scientists fall for two very ordinary looking women? If a honey trap was really employed to penetrate the top secret cryogenic programme, wouldn't the foreign agents arrange some real honeys instead of overly fat femmes?

What really happened?

When a crime – such as the ISRO case – leads to a dead end, one has to look for the motives. Who benefits from the failure of the cryogenic programme, which will power India's heavyweight rocket, the GSLV? Clearly not Pakistan, which is not in a position to compete with India in space. Also, after achieving nuclear parity with India, it does not feel existentially threatened enough to take on India in other areas.

In this backdrop, Narayanan's allegation that the United States wanted to stunt India's space programme deserves to be looked into. According to the scientist, his arrest was part of an agenda of the United States accomplished by the CIA conniving with rogue agents of India's Intelligence Bureau (IB).

One of them says Narayanan was Rattan Sehgal, who was the IB's counter intelligence chief and was associated with the ISRO investigation. Sehgal was later caught red-handed by the then IB chief Arun Bhagath. He was accused of having worked for the CIA, which led to his unceremonious exit from the IB in November 1996.

India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which finally investigated the case, discovered a really bizarre detail from the case diary of the Kerala Police. The CBI in its report noted that all those working on cryogenic engine development in ISRO – including the Russian scientists who were helping India – had been made accused. Charges were also slapped against Ural Aviation, the airline which brought Russian cryogenic engines and other relevant items to India.

Narayanan says Kerala Police officer Siby Mathews had a definite plan that all persons working for development of cryogenic engine technology should be arrested to demoralise them. That was the reason why he was arrested in November 1994 without conducting any search of his office or residence and also without seizure of any incriminating evidence from him.

The rocket that came in from the cold

The popular narrative is that in 1991 Russia had agreed to transfer cryogenic technology to India but the United States – anxious to prevent India from developing a powerful rocket with possible military applications – intervened and forced their man, President Boris Yeltsin, to backtrack on the deal.

With Russia then firmly in the Western camp, India realised there were limits to cooperation with Moscow as long as Yeltsin was at the helm. However, the two sides did not allow the issue to become a sticking point.

New Delhi-based Institute for Defence Studies & Analysis says the two sides reached a compromise solution, "whereby Russia was to withhold from passing on to India those elements of technology that could be used for dual purposes. But the technology not considered dual purpose was to be transferred".

However, according to columnist and investigative journalist Madhav Nalapat, although the Bill Clinton administration had sought to scupper the Russian sale of cryogenic engines to India, "Russian scientists friendly to India had secretly handed over blueprints relating to the making of such engines".

"This soon became known to the CIA, which is believed to have orchestrated the plan to paralyse the program by sending its key scientists to prison," says Nalapat. "Although the charges were found to be entirely false, that vindication took a decade to come about, and in the process, the Indian programme was slowed down by an equivalent number of years."


Target India

The cryogenic team wasn't the last to be systematically targeted. Last month the bodies of K.K. Josh and Abhish Shivam were discovered near the railway tracks at Penduruthy near Vishakapatnam Naval Yard. The two were engineers connected with the building of India's indigenous nuclear-powered submarine, Arihant.

Earlier, in February 2010, M. Iyer, an engineer at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) was found dead in his residence. Iyer was strangled in his sleep. For those not in the loop, BARC is the top secret facility where India's nuclear warheads are produced.

Nalapat says according to the Government of India, over just a three-year period, there have been at least nine unnatural deaths of scientists and engineers at just BARC as well as the Kaiga nuclear facility in southern India.

In fact, if you go further in the past, the death of the father of the Indian atomic programme, Homi Bhabha, in a plane crash over the Alps is equally mysterious. So is the death of pioneering space scientist Vikram Sarabhai at the age of 52.

High stakes game

The Mars mission is a sideshow – a mere $75 million roll of the dice. Less spectacular but vastly more important is the planned launch of the GSLV in December. The GSLV is the granddaddy of India's rocket arsenal. Compare this: while the much hyped Mars probe, Mangalyaan, is carrying an instrument package weighing just 15 kg, the GSLV is designed to carry Indian astronauts to the moon in the early 2020s. The heavy lift rocket is also needed to launch the next generation of India's spy satellites, which ideally should not be launched from foreign shores.

Now check this out. The Mars mission took just 15 months to launch after it was green-lighted. The GSLV project on the other hand has taken over three decades and yet according to Narayanan it has been a stubborn disaster. When you join the dots"¦.the finger of suspicion points only in one direction.

Protection racket

Unlike Iran, which has provided round the clock security to its top nuclear scientists after five of them were murdered (perhaps by Israel) India does not even offer its personnel working on strategic projects even token protection.

With the vast array of brain power at its disposal it is India that's most likely to deliver the next Sputnik moments. Whether it is Mars, moon or the asteroids, ISRO has planned more spectacular rendezvous for the near future, culminating in a manned moon landing.

On the other hand, reeling under severe budgetary pressures, some of the established powers might not welcome India's arrival on what they consider has been their turf for over more than half a century. Considering the stakes involved, the least India should do is ramp up protection for its key scientists.
well all protection in India is reserved for the first family. others from Modi to the dead scientists can go to hell is the message.
 
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tramp

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BJP attacks Gujarat DGP Sreekumar, rakes up ISRO spy case


Can we ask why the chragesheet against Sree Kumar was quashed? he incarcerated some of the most prominent ISRO scientists who were peers of Abdul kalam for decades./
BJP is targeting Sreekumar only because of the Modi encounter deaths angle. If BJP is serious about the ISRO spying case, it should not seek to grind their axes... but go after the senior officials and the Kerala police top brass like Siby Mathew.

And also the media unit in Kerala that launched a vicious campaign against these scientists filing cooked up stories to denigrate and demoralize them.

In my opinion if a new government other than UPA comes to power it should throughly investigate this matter.

The conduct of kerala police in the ISRO spy case was severly criticized by the kerala high court and criminal proceedings on the IPS officers concerned is going on.
I would welcome that investigation.
 
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CrYsIs

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Atlas 5 with mass of 300,000 kg can carry 29,500 kg to LEO where as GSLV with a mass of 400,000 can carry only 5000 kg to LEO.....

My two cents..... India should have brought that RD 180 from Russia.
 

ersakthivel

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BJP attacks Gujarat DGP Sreekumar, rakes up ISRO spy case


Can we ask why the chragesheet against Sree Kumar was quashed? he incarcerated some of the most prominent ISRO scientists who were peers of Abdul kalam for decades./
BJP is targeting Sreekumar only because of the Modi encounter deaths angle. If BJP is serious about the ISRO spying case, it should not seek to grind their axes... but go after the senior officials and the Kerala police top brass like Siby Mathew.

And also the media unit in Kerala that launched a vicious campaign against these scientists filing cooked up stories to denigrate and demoralize them.



I would welcome that investigation.
well the question being asked is why did Sree kumar made those statements against Guj administration with what motive?

And if chargesheet against him was quashed , what is the conscience level of the central government in doing that?

Why did the people who quashed those chargesheets thought that the probe into CIA links to the ISRO case such an expedient matter to be brushed under the carpet in lieu for sree Kumar implicating Modi?

So as a political party BJP has every right to ask these questions about the man who is instrumental in hurling charges against it's Pm candidate. ANy political party will do the same.

The real question before the people of India is the ignoble motive of the powers to be in not pursuing charges against Sree Kumar.

So if somebody is ready to hurt Modi they will close their eyes on whatever grave damage that guy has done to the country and celebrate him as a conscience keeper of the country. Which is disgusting.
 
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ersakthivel

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Atlas 5 with mass of 300,000 kg can carry 29,500 kg to LEO where as GSLV with a mass of 400,000 can carry only 5000 kg to LEO.....

My two cents..... India should have brought that RD 180 from Russia.
What does this statement has to do with the thread?

This thread is discussion about ISRO spy case frame up with external CIA angle to it. Not about cryogenic tech .
You can keep your two cents in your pocket and please don't derail the thread.
 

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