The key evidence against a group of activists and intellectuals arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, was planted using malware on a laptop seized by police, a new forensics report has found.
The Washington Post reported that key evidence against a group of activists and intellectuals, who have been arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, was planted using malware on a laptop seized by police, a new forensics report has found.
An attacker used malware to infiltrate a laptop belonging to activist Rona Wilson before his arrest and deposited at least 10 incriminating letters on his computer, the report by Arsenal Consulting, a United States digital forensics firm has found.
A letter, claimed by police, that was written by Wilson to a Maoist militant, discussing the need for guns and ammunition, and urging the banned group to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was also amongst the letters planted. The letters had been planted in a hidden folder on Wilson’s laptop, the report has found.
Though the forensic report did not identify the perpetrator of the cyberattack, it noted that Wilson was not the only victim. Some of the same servers and IP addresses were deployed by the same attacker to target other accused in the case over a period of four years, it stated.
“This is one of the most serious cases involving evidence tampering that Arsenal has ever encountered,” the report said, adding that Wilson’s laptop was compromised “for just over 22 months”.
On the request of Wilson’s lawyer, Arsenal had examined an electronic copy of the laptop. The report was included by Wilson’s lawyer in a petition filed in the Bombay High Court, urging judges to dismiss the case against their client.
The Arsenal report proved his client’s innocence and “destabilizes” the prosecution case against the activists, Sudeep Pasbola, a lawyer representing Wilson, told The Washington Post.
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