new delhi

A rocket scientist at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in Bangalore who was falsely charged with spying five years ago has issued a $250,000 suit against the government of Kerala state and the central government in New Delhi.

In a suit filed in a court in Thiruvanathapuram on 2 January, Nambi Narayanan, currently director of the ISRO's advanced technology and planning department, is demanding compensation for the “mental and physical agony” he claims to have suffered at the hands of the Kerala state police and officials of the central government's intelligence bureau.

Narayanan seeks damages on ten counts, including false arrest, illegal detention for 50 days, mental and physical torture, loss of reputation, distress to his family and loss of a promotion. The court has not set a date for the hearing.

In 1994, Narayanan, then deputy director of ISRO's liquid propulsion systems centre, and three others were charged with leaking information on ISRO's cryogenic engine project to an unidentified foreign power through two women alleged to be agents of Maldives (see Nature 372, 491;1994 ).

The case was dismissed as groundless by India's Supreme Court in April 1998 (see Nature 393, 6; 1998), and the two women were released in October. Narayanan says he is suing the government because the officials who “concocted the case” and tortured him had refused to admit their guilt and had not been punished.