Nair said it was strange that the scam details were leaked immediately after India proved its prowess in space science through Chandrayaan-1 mission.
G Madhavan Nair, former chairman of Isro on Friday said the alleged S-band spectrum scam in the Antrix-Devas multimedia deal is the outcome of an international conspiracy against the Indian Space Research Organisation.
Speaking to reporters here, Nair said it was strange that the scam details were leaked immediately after India proved its prowess in space science through Chandrayaan-1 mission.
“This is similar to the Isro spy case of the early 90s which broke out immediately after the space agency standardised its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles through a series of successful launches,” said Nair.
Nair and three other former Isro scientists have been blacklisted from holding any government positions following reports submitted by committees which probed the Antrix-Devas deal.
The blacklisting of the four scientists was followed by the resignation of Roddam Narasimha, one of the committee members who probed the Antrix-Devas deal, from the Space Commission, the apex body controlling Indian space science.
The spy scam had sabotaged all progresses achieved by Isro in developing an indigenous cryogenic engine essential for putting heavy communication satellites into the geo stationary orbit, 36,000 km away from the earth. It also cost the country the services of two eminent space scientists, Nambi Narayanan and Sasi Kumar, both specialists in cryogenic technology. Narayanan and Kumar were falsely implicated in the spy scam which had all the ingredients of a commercial pot boiler movie. It was alleged that Narayanan and Kumar passed on sensitive data about India’s cryogenic technology to Pakistan through two Maldives women who were arrested by the Kerala police on charges of overstaying in Thiruvananthapuram. A CBI probe found the charges were cooked up. But both the scientists were forced to leave Isro disgraced and humiliated.
Nair said the performance of Isro during the last two years was disappointing. “Antrix, the marketing wing of Isro, had become a Rs1,000crore company within five years of its launch. But the last two years’ performance was dismal,” he said. He also said last two years saw Isro activities coming to a standstill.
He blamed his successor Radhakrishnan for the imbroglio. “Though eminent scientists like Anil Kakodkar, Narasimha and CNR Rao have given a clean chit to the Antrix-Devas deal, Radhakrishnan is playing mischief with the whole issue,” he said.
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