Thiruvananthapuram: It’s wrong on the part of Nambi Narayanan to circulate a version that his arrest in the espionage case delayed the cryogenic rocket engine becoming a reality and resulted in substantial financial loss to the country, his former colleagues said here on Wednesday.

Speaking at a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram, the scientists said they were forced to meet the media as misinformation was being spread through the film ‘Rocketry: The Nambi Effect', a film based on Nambi Narayanan’s life which hit theatres recently.

The scientists said the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) started the process of building its own cryogenic engine in the mid-1980s. The responsibility for the same was on E V S Namboothiri. The group led by Namboothiri developed 12 volumes. At that time, Nambi Narayanan was in no way related to the project. Later too, when the team led by Jnana Gandhi started work on the engine, Nambi didn’t find a place in the team.

Former Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) Director A E Muthunayakam said it was he who made Nambi the project director when the cryogenic propulsion system project was started in LPSC in 1990.

In 1993, a pact was entered into with Russia to exchange the cryogenic engine technology. Jnana Gandhi was entrusted to talk to Russia about the details of the pact. A team led by him went to Russia also.

However, following US pressure, Russia withdrew from the pact. In December 1993, discussions were again initiated with Russia and the deal was renewed. It was decided to hand over the engine instead of the technology. In November 1994, Nambi applied for voluntary retirement. He found his way out from the cryogenic team in the same month following his arrest. After leaving LPSC in 1994, Nambi didn’t have any connection with the development of the cryogenic project. The contention that Nambi developed the Vikas Engine is also not right, they said.

France’s Viking Engine was developed into Vikas. The pact for the same was signed with the French firm in 1974. Nambi was the manager of the team that went to France. Nambi actually did the managerial work while technical works were undertaken by others. Muthunayakam also said that the success of Vikas Engine was the result of the hard work of a big team of scientists.

Former cryogenic engine deputy director D Sasikumar, former cryogenic engine project director E V S Namboothiri, former LPSC associate director Sreedhardas, former Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) associate director Dr Adimoorthy, former VSSC deputy director Dr Majeed, former Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) project director George Koshy, former Cryostage group director Kailasanadhan, and former quality assurance director Jayakumar were present at the press conference.