Digital evidence was ‘planted’ on Stan Swamy’s computer, claims US forensic firm

New Delhi, A US-based forensic firm on Tuesday claimed that digital evidence, similar to that of human rights activists Rona Wilson and Surendra Gadling, was “planted” in their computer hard drives to arrest Stan Swamy in the Bhima-Koregaon case. 84-year-old Swamy, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, died in July 2021 while awaiting interim bail on medical grounds.

An examination of an electronic copy of Swamy’s computer by Arsenal Consulting, a Massachusetts-based digital forensics firm, concluded that a hacker had infiltrated his equipment and “planted” evidence. According to the newspaper ‘The Washington Post’, the firm said in its new report that it had previously documented digital evidence planted on the devices of other human rights activists Rona Wilson and Surendra Gadling. “More than 50 files were created on the hard drive of Swamy’s computer, including documents that falsely showed links between him and the Maoist insurgency,” the report said.

“The last incriminating document was planted on his computer on June 5, 2019, a week before the raid against Swamy,” the report said. It was on the basis of these documents that Swamy was arrested for the first time in the Bhima Koregaon case While experts doubted the authenticity of the documents.

The Elgar case pertains to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conference held at Shaniwarwada, Pune on December 31, 2017. About which the police claimed that violence broke out the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the city. Pune police claimed that the conference was supported by Maoists.

After Swamy’s death, a spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs had said that due process of law was followed for his detention. Responding to media queries regarding the death of Father Stan Swamy last year, a spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs said that due to the specific nature of the allegations against him, his bail applications were rejected by the courts.

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Tags: Bhima Koregaon case