Highlights:
- On Tuesday, a top ISRO scientist has alleged that he was poisoned in 2017
- A message was posted titled “A Long-Kept Secret” on Facebook by Tapan Misra stating that he was poisoned on May 23, 2017
- During a promotion interview in Bangaluru at ISRO headquarter, Misra was poisoned
A former director of the Space Application Centre (SAC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Ahmedabad has alleged an “espionage attack” by “mysterious men” who twice tried to assassinate him. He says that the gang targets scientists and scientific institutions in the country and does not rule out this “modus operandi” within the organization for “adjusting” seniority.
The senior ISRO scientist, Prof. Tapan Misra, set to retire on January 31, not blaming any individual, organization, or nation, says, “The motive seems to be an espionage attack, embedded in the government setup, to remove a scientist with a crucial contribution of very large military and commercial significance, such as expertise in building Synthetic Aperture Radar. Even, I would not rule out… a new modus operandi of seniority adjustment (within ISRO) and explain to me (sic) who was viewed as an obstacle.”
Prof Misra, currently a senior advisor to ISRO, says in a shocking Facebook post, “Long Kept Secret,” on Tuesday, that the first assassination attempt on him was made on May 23, 2017 during a promotion interview in Bengaluru at Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) headquarters, and again in Ahmedabad on July 12, 2019. “He also refers to more recent attempts to assassin him by releasing poisonous snakes into his house in Ahmedabad through “a carefully laid secret tunnel in my compound and concealed in a trove of banana plantations.”
Mentioning the “highly suspicious death of Prof. Vikram Sarabhai (founder-chairman of ISRO) in 1971” and “doubts about Dr. S Srinivasan’s sudden death” (former director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre), Misra states that he is “convinced that these are the men who are embedded in our system (who) are leading to the mysterious deaths of scientists and the destruction of our institutions.” He attributes the notorious 1994 ISRO espionage case that targeted Nambi Narayanan to these “mysterious men”.
Misra claimed that poisoning him with the deadly Arsenic Trioxide was the first attempt in May 2017 when he was attending an interview for being promoted from Scientist ‘F’ to ‘G’ grade. For two years, the attack caused him to suffer and he lost almost 30-40% of his blood and could barely reach Ahmedabad, where he was rushed to a hospital.
He also attached AIIMS Report along with his Facebook post to establish his allegations:
“He says that the second attempt was made in in July 2019, “My security was breached and I was poisoned with gaseous poison, possibly hydrogen cyanide, which hypoxiates and leaves no traces which leads to convulsions, loss of memory and senses. Thanks to NSG training for my PSO, I survived. I was immediately transferred to the hospital; ozonized oxygen was given and I had to spend a few days in the ICU.” He says the attempt “happened on July 15 just before (the) scheduled launch date of Chandrayan-2… Possibly to prevent me (from being) there (at Sriharikota).
He says, “What pains me is that the hierarchy of ISRO and my peers have been trying to shun me as a pariah.” To help me get justice, I pleaded with two successive chairmen. Misra verified to one of the leading news channels that he posted this on FB, bearing in mind the younger scientists. He said that to rid the system of such elements, the incidents should be investigated.
