Addressing the media here, Narayanan, who was earlier given a clean chit by the CBI in the spy case, said justice will be served once the central agency completes the probe and action is taken based on that report.

His reaction comes hours after the apex court ordered that the report of the panel on the role of erring police officials in the espionage case be given to the CBI and directed the agency to conduct further investigation into the issue.

''I welcome the decision.. it's a progress made..,'' Narayanan said and reiterated that the whole case was a 'fabricated' one.

''It was a fabricatedcrime. It was stated so in the CBI closure report, then the CJM court accepted it and it was pointed out in the first Supreme Court judgment of April 29, 1998, then in September 14 2018 verdict also.

The NHRC had also said that. Now the effort is to find who faricated the case,'' he said.

Meanwhile, the BJP hailed the SC decision and said the CBI investigation will bring out the truth about the factional politics of the Congress, which 'destroyed' the career of Narayanan.

In a tweet, Union Minister V Muraleedharan said, ''Welcome the Hon'ble SC's order to hand over the #ISROSpyCase to CBI.

Hoping that it will bring out how @INCKerala 's factional politics sabotaged national interests & destroyed a patriotic scientist, Nambi Narayanan Ji's career.'' The top court had appointed the panel in 2018, while directing the Kerala government to cough up Rs 50 lakh compensation for compelling Narayanan to undergo ''immense humiliation''.

The espionage case, which had hit the headlines in 1994, pertained to allegations of transfer of certain confidential documents on India's space programme to foreign countries by two scientists and four others, including two Maldivian women.

Narayanan was arrested when the Congress was heading the then government in Kerala.

Narayanan, then director of the cryogenic project at ISRO, was arrested along with the then ISRO Deputy Director D Sasikumaran, and two Maldivian nationals.

The CBI, in its probe, had held that the then top police officials in Kerala were responsible for Narayanan's illegal arrest.

The case also had its political fallout, with a section in the Congress targeting the then Chief Minister late K Karunakaran over the issue, that eventually led to his resignation.

Over a period of almost two-and-a-half years, the panel headed by Justice Jain examined the circumstances leading to the arrest.