11 Indian nuclear scientists have died unnaturally in the past 6 years- some had died in blasts, some drowned while some had taken their own lives. Interestingly, the mysterious death of Indian nuclear scientists is not a recent phenomenon, its been going on since long. Homi Bhabha, the father of the Indian Nuclear Program, also died under mysterious circumstances in 1966.
Let’s check out such mysterious deaths of these talented scientists.
1. Abish Shivam
A 33 year old engineer working at INS Airhant, the first ever nuclear-powered submarine of India was found dead along with KK Josh, a chief engine room artificer at Shipbuilding Center, at the railway tracks near Vishakapatnam; Both were poisoned first and then dragged and left to the tracks so that it looked as they met with an accident.
2. Homi Bhabha
Homi Jhangir Bhabha, met his end in the Air India Flight 101crashon January 24, 1966, shortly after his announcement that India could produce its own nuclear device in a short time. It was in 2012, that a bag belonging to an Indian diplomat was found near the site which did not contain any important documents. Journalist, Robert Crowley, claims the involvement of the CIA in the crash who was apparently threatened by the possibilities of India’s progression in nuclear capabilities.
3. Lokanathan Mahalingam
In June 2008, the Kaiga atomic power station’s nuclear scientist went out for a morning walk and never returned. His body was found five days later. Some serious questions were thrown from a newspaper of Pakistan claiming that Mahalingam was training scientists with the nuclear reactor simulator. Why the scientist’s body was cremated before the DNA tests were released was one of the many questions raised along with claims that a Mahalingam’s employee, Ravi Mule who was also murdered just few weeks before him.
4. Padmanabham Iyer
Iyer was an engineer at the BARC, Bhabha Atomic Research Center who was found dead on February 23, 2010. The Medical examiners could find no fingerprints or clues at a crime scene, and then the forensics declared the cause of death “unexplained”. However, the police tried to explain the death as a cause of unnatural sex, tried by Iyer before his death- for which there is no evidence as well.
5. Titus Pal:
Titus Pal, who also worked at the BARC, was merely 27 years old when she was found hanging from the ventilators at her campus residence of BARC only three days after her birthday which she had celebrated with her family and friends in Kolkata. Pal’s suspicious suicide is another case of unsolved deaths of nuclear scientists in India.
6. Uma Rao
A retired scientist at the BARC, she had committed suicide for not being to bear the chronic depression and had left a suicide note that said she did not blame anyone for the “extreme step” she has taken. However, her colleagues and family did not agree that Uma Rao ever showed any signs of depressions or suicidal tendencies.
7. Umang Singh and Partha Pratim Bag
Young nuclear researchers at the BARC, were burnt to death on December 30, 2009 in the radiation and photo chemistry laboratory, however, interestingly, forensic reports said there was nothing the room that was inflammable which indicated foul play in the case.
By: Archa Dave
