The charges were dismissed as phony by the Central Bureau of Investigation in May 1996 and by the Supreme Court in April 1998. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in September 1999 passed strictures against the government of Kerala for having 'tarnished (Narayanan's) long and distinguished career in space research apart from the physical and mental torture to which he and his family were subjected.'

Narayanan, who spent 50 days in jail 'for a crime I did not commit', says his main complaint against ISRO is that it dropped him like a hot potato instead of coming to his rescue.

'It is unfair to say that,' Madhavan Nair told IANS. 'No organisation would have supported Narayanan like ISRO did.'

Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, who was ISRO chairman when Narayanan was arrested, said ISRO could not interfere in a legal matter. 'Once the court cleared Narayanan I reinstated him,' he said.

But Narayanan says he was given a desk job and not allowed to return to his work on indigenous cryogenic engine till his retirement in 2001. 'By doing so the work on this project got delayed by at least five years,' he says.

Instead of joining his colleagues in celebrating the moon mission, the unsung hero of Chandrayaan-1 is now fighting court cases to get from the state government the Rs.1 million 'interim relief' that the NHRC ordered to be paid, and the Rs.10 million in damages he had claimed from the state and central government.

'Borrowing money to fight the cases at my age is not a small joke,' he says, adding that the cases have been dragging on for nearly ten years.

Narayanan says he will get the money sooner or later and that is not important. 'All I want is that somebody at the level of ISRO chairman should acknowledge the truth about my contribution to the development of liquid engines with which ISRO is flying (its rockets) today. They should say this in a public forum.'

(K. S. Jayaraman can be contacted at killugudi@hotmail.com)