Arsenic is often used in cinema, television, and literatureby individuals to surreptitiously dispatch their enemies. Tapan Misra informs, “It[arsenic] is a colourless, odourless, tasteless suspension and hence cannoteven be suspected. It gets absorbed through the stomach during food ingestion,kills RBCs (red blood cells) immediately to such a large extent that the fineblood vessels are clogged, leading to heart attacks and strokes within two tothree hours and the victim can easily be passed off as heart attack death,”
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist TapanMisra, a senior adviser at the national organisation revealed this years later.
He claims that his rationale for doing so is that he fearsfor his life since he has retired.
A promotion interview in Bengaluru on May 23, 2017 was theoccasion when the said chemical was given to him in a molecular levelsuspension just after a heavy meal.
Tapan Misra was saved with lot of hardships and efforts bymany medical personnel.
He rues the incident as also a “great shame of the countryand our security apparatus.”
The motivation of the perpetrator is not difficult toassess.
“My contribution was in developing radar imaging satellites— RISAT, considered a very high-grade technology. We can watch the earth'ssurface in any situation, be it day or night, using this system. “This radarsystem is 10 times costlier (than the indigenous one) if we buy it (fromothers),” Misra said.
“The motive appears to be an espionage attack, embedded inthe government set-up, to remove a scientist with critical contribution of verylarge military and commercial significance, like expertise in buildingsynthetic aperture radar,” he said.
“A fatal dose was probably mixed with chutney served withsnacks after lunch. What followed was a nightmare lasting for almost two years.I suffered from severe loss of blood to the tune of 30 to 40 per cent through analbleeding. I could barely come back from hospital in Ahmedabad. It was followedby severe breathing difficulty, unusual skin eruptions and skin shedding,”
“It was followed by loss of nails on feet and hands,terrible neurological issues due to hypoxia, skeletal pain, unusual sensations,one suspected heart attack and arsenic depositions and fungal infections onevery inch of skin and internal organs,” he added.
There are some details revealed by Tapan Misra. He claimsthat on July 19, 2019 he was asked for some unethical favour and in exchangehis grandson would be accommodated in a best college in the United States ofAmerica.
Tapan Misra continued in his Facebook post, “We, in ISRO,occasionally heard about the highly suspicious death of Professor VikramSarabhai in 1971. Also heard occasional doubts about the sudden death of Dr S.Srinivasan, director of VSSC (Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre) in 1999. Case ofShri Nambinarayanan in 1994 is well known. But I never thought that I would beat the receiving end of such a mystery."