*In my opinion, the Indian space program never gets enough press. But hey, an Indian space-program alleged corruption scandal! Gotta like that! It's spacey, yet oh so Indian.
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main51.asp?filename=Ne030312Dogfight.asp
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"After the present chairman took over, ISRO suffered two failures in 2010. One was on 15 April, when the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) mission failed at the cryogenic stage less than a minute after lift-off from Sriharikota space port. The other was on Christmas day, when GSLV Fo6 exploded just after launch. “Radhakrishnan was pinning lots of hopes on the mission,” reveals a top scientist.
"With other missions facing delays, the ISRO chairman’s composure slowly disappeared. Failures are nothing new, and as a scientist he had seen the most ambitious missions failing. “But the timing of the failures was crucial for him,” says an observer.
"The chairman’s insecurity led him to suspect conspiracies against him. “He developed a set of cronies to extract information from different wings,” adds another scientist. During this period, the noose was tightening around the former chairman. “Nair was not aware about it or he underestimated the changing environment in ISRO. He was slowly losing his clout in Delhi,” says the insider.
"This is evident from later developments...."
