ISRO spying case: Kerala High Court grants anticipatory bail to former police officers

The Kerala High Court on Friday granted anticipatory bail to four people, including a former Director General of Police (DGP), in the 1994 ISRO espionage case. The top court had on December 2 last year set aside the Kerala High Court order granting anticipatory bail to the accused and sent the matter back to the high court to decide the issue within four weeks. Granting anticipatory bail, Justice K Babu directed him to appear before the investigating officer on January 27.

The High Court directed the investigating agency to grant bail to the accused in case they were arrested on that day. The court directed the accused to appear before the authorities every Monday and Friday for the next two weeks thereafter. The court also banned the foreign travel of the accused and granted him bail on a surety of Rs one lakh.

The top court had directed the high court to decide the petitions "afresh on their own merits". The top court's direction came on the CBI's appeal against the high court's order granting bail to former Gujarat DGP RB Sreekumar, two former Kerala police officers - S Vijayan and Thampi S Durga Dutt - and PS Jayaprakash, a retired intelligence officer. Sreekumar was the Deputy Director of the Intelligence Bureau at that time. In November last year, the apex court had issued notice on a petition filed by the CBI in the case.

The CBI had registered a case against 18 people for various offences, including criminal conspiracy, in connection with the arrest and detention of scientist Nambi Narayanan in an espionage case.