Clarion India
NEW DELHI — Fouziyya Hassan, one of the two Maldivian women falsely implicated along with scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 ISRO spy case, has died.
She died after being hospitalised with chest pain, news website sun.mv reported.
An actor, who had performed many prominent roles in films and TV dramas in her native Male, Fouziyya became a household name in Kerala after her arrest over the allegations of transfer of certain confidential documents on the space programme of India to foreign countries in 1994. Kerala police arrested her along with her friend Maria Rasheed, on 11 November 1994.
Fouziyya and others were acquitted by the court after the CBI, in its probe at that time, had held that top police officials in Kerala were responsible for their arrest.
The case was a big political controversy at the time with a section of leaders in the Congress targeting then Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran.
The issue was one of the major reasons that led to the resignation of Karunakaran as Chief Minister.
After they were freed and acquitted of all charges, the CBI registered a case against the officers and 14 others for various offences such as criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, and fabrication of evidence under the IPC.
For being falsely implicated in the espionage case, the Kerala government paid Rs 1.30 crore to Nambi Narayanan in 2020, writes Manorama.
Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid condoled the demise of Hassan.
“It is with deep sadness that we hear the news of the passing away of Fouziyya Hassan, who has made a tremendous contribution to the broadcasting, arts and film industry. May God grant the family patience and may God grant the deceased Paradise. Amen!,” Shahid, who is also president of the United Nations General Assembly, tweeted in Dhivehi language.
