Isro scientist Nambi Narayanan's book now digs into Sarabhai's death

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A strange turn of fate may have brought an abrupt and unexpected end to the glorious life of two of India's eminent scientific geniuses Homi Jehangir Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai, but their deaths still remain shrouded in mystery, says former Isro scientist Nambi Narayanan in his autobiography, which is getting ready for print.
"Legendary Indian physicists Vikram Sarabhai, known as the father of India's space programme and Homi Jehangir Bhabha, the father of India's nuclear programme, had died under suspicious circumstances, but why no investigation was done," asks Nambi Narayanan.
Paying tributes to the two visionaries in his book, he said that a probe could have revealed the cause of their deaths.
Recalling the days with Sarabhai, Nambi Narayanan says, "I joined Isro in 1966, three years after its inception. There were 26 people and Sarabhai took all efforts to set up Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS). And Sarabhai was my mentor."
Nambi Narayanan was in London when he came to know about Vikram Sarabhai's death.
"He was 52, very healthy and is reported to have died in sleep after working till 11 pm on December 30, 1971. My last meeting with him was a week before, when he had sent me to London for a programme. I was shocked to hear the news that the internationally acclaimed astrophysicist died in sleep at a hotel in Kovalam. Surprisingly, there was no postmortem done despite he dying under mysterious circumstances," says Nambi Narayanan in his autobiography.
Sarabhai's death at a hotel room in Kovalam, after witnessing a Russian rocket blast-off and inaugurating Thumba railway station, still remains a mystery. Sarabhai's mission to make India a space power with its indigenous propellant systems for launch vehicles gave the impetus to develop the cryogenic engine, he says.
On developing the Vikas engine for launch vehicles, some interpreted it as Vikasam means flowering, but I named it after Vikram Sarabhai offering my gratitude to him, he says.
Five years before Sarabhai's death, Homi J Bhabha died when Air India Flight 101 crashed near Mont Blanc in the Swiss Alps in January 1966, but no debris was found. Then reports by conspiracy theorists pointed to a sabotage by the CIA that intended to impede India's nuclear programme. However, Bhabha's death still remains a mystery. It was reported that his death came at a time soon after he had announced that India could produce a nuclear device in a short time.
"It was reported that Bhabha died in air crash, but why no black box could be found," asks Nambi Narayanan.