The Supreme Court on Friday quashed the Kerala High Court order granting anticipatory bail to four accused including a former Director General of Police (DGP) in the ISRO espionage case.
According to reports, they have been granted bail in a case of the alleged frame-up of scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 ISRO espionage matter. The matter was remanded back to the high court by a bench of justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar, who directed it to decide the issue within four weeks.
“All these appeals allowed. Impugned orders granting anticipatory bail passed by HC are quashed and set aside. All matters are remitted back to the HC to be decided afresh on it own merits. This court had not observed anything on merits for either of the parties,” the bench stated.
The bench further said it is ultimately for the high court to pass orders. “We request the HC to decide the anticipatory bail applications at the earliest preferably within four weeks from the date of this order,” the bench added.
The latest judgement came on the CBI’s appeal against the high court order granting bail to former Gujarat DGP RB Sreekumar, two former police officers of Kerala S Vijayan and Thampi S Durga Dutt, and a retired intelligence official PS Jayaprakash.
The espionage case, which hit the headlines in 1994, pertained to 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.