D Sasikumaran is an Indian aerospace engineer working at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). In 1994, he was arrested after being accused of espionage.
Wiki/Biography
D Sasikumaran was born in 1942 (age 80 years; in 2022), and he hails from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
Family
Parents & Siblings
Not much is known about his parents and siblings.
Wife & Children
D Sasikumaran’s wife is a doctor. In 1994, he served as an assistant professor at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College
Relationships/Affairs
He was rumored to be having an affair with a Maldivian woman, Mariam Rasheeda, who was suspected of being a spy. Reportedly, Sasikumaran has visited her in her hotel room at least twice. The Kerala Police informed the IB about the same on 15 October 1994.
Mariam Rasheeda
Career
Before his arrest in 1994, Sasikumaran served as Deputy Director of ISRO’s cryogenic technology division and was responsible for the transfer of cryogenic technology from Russia. After rumors of his relationship with a female spy surfaced in the media, he was transferred to the Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad. After the charges against them were dropped in 1996, Sasikumar and Narayanan were moved out of Thiruvananthapuram and given desk jobs. Later, Sasikumaran started working as an engineering consultant in Thiruvananthapuram.
Controversy
Flagged by ISRO for Questionable Integrity
D Sasikumaran and Nambi Narayanan were accused of violating the 1964 code of conduct for government employees as they worked to advance their personal interests while still at ISRO. While Narayanan was privately advising contractors with many foreign exchange deals, Sasikumaran planned to set up a private firm. As a result, scientists were flagged by ISRO for having questionable integrity, running private businesses and possessing untold wealth, a decade before the 1994 espionage case broke.
Arrested in a false espionage case in 1994
In November 1994, D. Sasikumaran, his colleagues Nambi Narayanan, Sudhir Kumar Sharma (a businessman based in Bangalore), K. Chandrasekhar (Indian representative of the Russian Space Agency Glavkosmos), and Maldivian women Mariam Rasheeda and Fousiya Hasan, were arrested. after being accused of espionage by a team of police officers and the Kerala Intelligence Bureau.
Arrest of Mariam Rasheeda and Fousiya Hasan in ISRO espionage case 1994
Nambi Narayanan’s arrest in the 1994 ISRO espionage case
The arrest was based on a recorded statement by a colleague who claimed he and Narayanan had received money for transferring rocket engine drawings and documents to two Maldivian women, Mariam Rasheeda and Fauziyya Hassan, who were suspected of being spies.
Allegations of Corruption
When intelligence agencies raided Sasikumaran’s house, they found that apart from several houses in Thiruvananthapuram, Sasikumaran had 1.5 acres of land in an industrial area in Tamil Nadu. The CBI estimated his assets to be worth over Rs 55 lakh and arrested them under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Facts/Trivia
- In 2022, the biographical drama film ‘Rocketry: The Nambi Effect’ based on the lives of Nambi Narayanan and D Sasikumaran was released.
- Sasikumaran was arrested by the police after they found the phone numbers of Sasikumaran’s residence and office in Mariam’s diary. Then it turned out that Sasikumaran did know Mariam through their common friend Chandrasekhar. ISRO has business related to the cryogenic project with Chandrasekhar. Apparently, Chandrasekhar and Mariam had met at Thiruvananthapuram airport, after which he sent her to Sasikumaran to consult his wife who is a doctor.
- Initially, the Kerala Police dismissed Sasikumaran’s connection with Mariam as a “sex scandal of no consequence.” However, it was after intelligence agencies arrested Mariam’s accomplice Fauzia Hassan and interrogated both that they concluded that Sasikumaran and Mariam might be involved in a major spy network operating at ISRO.
Categories: Biography
Source: SCHOOL TRANG DAI
