CBI questions ISRO ex-chief in Antrix deal

New Delhi, May 13: The CBI on Thursday, May 12 questioned former ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair in connection with an alleged loss of Rs 578 crore in an agreement between multi-media company Devas and Antrix, the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation.

Nair was questioned for over five hours at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters here, CBI sources said.

The CBI filed the First Information Report (FIR) in Bengaluru on March 16, 2015, and slapped cases under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act in the case.

Those booked in the case were the then executive director of Antrix K.R. Sridhara Murthi, US-based Forge Advisors officials M.G. Chandrasekhar and R. Vishwanathan, Bengaluru-based Devas Multi-media Private Limited and unnamed officials of Antrix Corporation Ltd., ISRO and department of space.

The Antrix-Devas deal saw an early exit of Nair as ISRO chairman since he was the head of Antrix governing council when the deal was finalised in January 2005.

IANS