A top scientist is falsely accused of selling space technology secrets. A police inspector's misadventure with a maldivian woman results in a fabricated espionage case. A faction within a political party capitalises on the case to bring down a government. An intelligence agency obliingly plays into the hands of vested interests to slow down India's space programme ; and a complex investigation finally proves the allegations untrue.
in this riveting boo, ISRO scientist, S Nambi Narayanan - Who was falsely accused of espionage in the ISRO spy case of the 1990s - and senior journalist, Arun Ram, meticulously unpick the ISRO spy case. Together they revisit old material and discover new details to expose the international plot that delayed india's development of a cryogenic engine by at least a decade. it took four years for the CBI to exonerate Nambi, But his fight for justice to ensure action againts the officers who faked the case and tortured him in custody continues to this day.
This book is as much a history of the early days of india's ambitious space programme as it is a record of the most sensational cases that enthralled the nation long before the era of online updates and 24- hour news cycles.
' The allegations of espionage are not proved and have been found to be False .' -CBI report on ISRO spy case
' if before taking up further investigation, an opinion has aleady been formed regarding the guilt of the accused ... it is obvious that the investigation cannot and will not be fair ... '
   - supreme court of india
'The 'espionage case' reveals that the country's space programme, or for that matter other strategic programmes, may no longer be immune to outside interference ... '
- open letter by satish Dhavan, TN seshan, UR Rao, yash pa, R Narasimha and S chandrashekar
'in may 1992, the bush administration announced that it was applying American sanctions on ISRO and Glavkosmos .... Russia suggested Compensation for loss of the indian contract and the s400m paid by the united states for seven American flightsto Mir may have become part of the equations.
   -Brian Harvey in Russia in space The Failed Frontier?