Nambi Narayanan1994 espionage case: Kerala ex-DGP Siby Mathews' anticipatory bail extended till Oct 27

Kochi, Oct 22: Kerala High Court on Friday extended the anticipatory bail of former DGP Siby Mathews, which was granted by the Thiruvananthapuram Sessions Court till October 27, in the conspiracy to frame former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan and others in the 1994 espionage case.

Justice K Haripal took note of the time limit mentioned in the Sessions Court's order and extended the pre-arrest bail for additional three days.

The August 24-order by Sessions Court imposed 60 days limit on the anticipatory bail by the Sessions Court and it will expire on October 24th.

The CBI counsel sought more time to make argument for which the petitioner's counsel sought to extend the time period. As a result, the court agreed to grant this interim relief and posted the matter for hearing on October 27.

Siby Mathews counsel further told the court that his client was fully cooperating with the investigation conducted by the CBI department. So, the custodial investigation was not necessary.

The 1994 espionage case is about allegations of transfer of certain confidential documents on India's space programme to foreign countries by two scientists and four others, including two Maldivian women.

The CBI, in its probe back then, had held that the then top police officials in Kerala were responsible for Nambi Narayanan's illegal arrest.

CBI filed the case against Mathews and 17 others, including IB officials, for various offences like criminal conspiracy, kidnapping and fabrication of evidence, under the Indian Penal Code in connection with the arrest of Nambi Narayanan and the two Maldives nationals.

After acquitting Narayanan in the case, the three-member committee, headed by former apex court judge Justice (retd) D K Jain, was appointed by the top court in 2018.

With inputs from PTI