This refers to the report “Madhavan Nair sees international conspiracy” (March 3), which quotes the former Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, G. Madhavan Nair, as saying that “he would not discount the possibility of an international conspiracy in raking up a controversy over the Antrix-Devas deal, targeting the nation's top scientists.”
He also says: “The ISRO spy scandal [which vilified the names of some top scientists earlier apparently without any reason] had come out in the open just after the success of the PSLV mission,” thereby suggesting that the “spy scandal case” was also the result of such an international conspiracy. One of the basic principles of science is “not to believe hearsay but only something which is proved by observation and experiment.” The ISRO spy scandal case was investigated by the CBI, and its 200-page report was perused and upheld by the Supreme Court, which in 1998, ordered a closure to all further investigation in that case. As a person who had perused the said report, I can vouch for the fact that there was not even a shadow of doubt raised about any “international conspiracy to vilify top scientists,” as declared by Mr. Nair. I hope he will clarify the details of such a conspiracy in his next statement.
Siby Mathews,
Thiruvananthapuram
