Nambi Narayanan case: SC sets aside HC anticipatory bail order to four accused

The Supreme Court Friday set aside a Kerala High Court order that had granted anticipatory bail to former police and Intelligence Bureau officers RB Sreekumar, PS Jayaprakash, Thampi S Durga Dutt and Vijayan in connection with the alleged conspiracy to frame former Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) scientist Nambi Narayanan in an "espionage" case.

A bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar asked the Kerala High Court to decide the pleas afresh. It also directed the high court to decide the matter "preferably within four weeks".

The directions were passed on a plea filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the high court order. The court also directed that the accused will not be arrested for a period of five weeks subject to their cooperation with the probe.


The high court while deciding the plea for anticipatory bail will not be influenced by the interim protection, the Supreme Court clarified.

Last August , the Kerala High Court had granted anticipatory bail to the four accused in the case. In September 2018, the Supreme Court had held that the prosecution initiated by the Kerala police against Narayanan in the mid 1990s in the Isro espionage case was malicious and had awarded a compensation of Rs 50 lakh to Narayanan.