Bitter over the action taken against him and three other eminent space scientists on the controversial Antrix-Devas deal issue, former ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair on Wednesday slammed it as “an act of cowardice” and accused his successor K. Radhakrishnan of being behind the move and “misleading” the government.
He also accused Mr Radhakrishnan of having a “personal agenda.
“He has misled the government on the whole issue (the deal). He is the key person who worked behind this; he misled and miscommunicated to the government and he has taken action,” Dr Nair said, targeting Mr Radhakrishnan, secretary in the department of space and chairman of the Space Commission.
“That individual is bent upon hitting so many people and in that process, he is killing the organisation,” he alleged.
“This (the action) is a complete act of cowardice,” Dr Nair said.
It was a “clear violation of conduct and pension rules” as well as legal aspects, said Nair, who was the key figure behind India’s Chandrayaan-1 moon mission.
“Even the person who has done the terror attack in Mumbai....He is enjoying the freedom of going to 3-4 levels of appeal. Are we worse than terrorists?”, he asked.