[2] The most prominent victim was aerospace engineer Nambi Narayanan, who later alleged that the United States and CIA may have involved in fabricating the case,[3][4] thereby preventing India from entering into multi-billion dollar commercial space missions.
Senior Kerala Police officials like Raman Srivastava,[6] Siby Mathews and the Malayalam newspaper Malayala Manorama played a major role in sensationalising[7][8] and politicising the allegations made against the scientists.
In 2021, the Supreme Court ordered a probe into the actions of involved police officers, who filed counter-suits alleging corruption on the part of CBI investigators.
[14][15] In October 1994, during a visa verification check at Thiruvananthapuram, police found the explanations of two Maldivian women, Mariam Rasheeda and Fauziyya Hassan, suspicious.
A first information report filed by police mentioned instances of Rasheeda contacting D Sasikumaran, then a general manager at Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre.
[a] A report that Rasheeda and Fauziyya Hassan were frequent visitors to the Pakistani embassy in Maldives spurred an investigation by Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) officials.
The judges also found fault with CBI's failure to investigate leads suggested by Kerala police as well as its heavy dependence on the retractions by the accused.
[24] In April 1996, before the 1996 Indian general election, CBI submitted a closure report to the chief judicial magistrate of Ernakulam district,[25] saying that there was no espionage and that the testimonies of suspects were coerced by torture.
But Supreme Court[c] stopped it in April 1998, pointing out that the Indian Official Secrets Act limits the powers of state police to conduct further investigation.
[d][24] In September 1999, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) passed strictures against the government of Kerala for having damaged Narayanan's distinguished career in space research along with the physical and mental torture to which he and his family were subjected.
The Kerala High Court ordered a compensation amount of Rs 1 lakh to be paid to Narayanan based on an appeal from NHRC India in September 2012.
In November 2013, during the campaign for 2014 Indian general election, BJP aired claims that Sreekumar's allegations were in exchange for the United Progressive Alliance government dropping charges of faulty investigation in the ISRO espionage case.
[32] On 14 September 2018, the Supreme Court ordered a probe[e] into the "harrowing" arrest and alleged torture of former space scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 'ISRO spy scandal' that turned out to be fake.
[35] The case and the Padma award featured in BJP's campaign for 2019 Indian general election,[16] with Modi asking "I hope you are aware what the Congress has done to Kerala's own scientist Nambi Narayan" in a rally in Thiruvananthapuram.