After US firm report, activist moves HC for Elgar case stay

After a report emerged claimingjailed activist Rona Wilson's computer had been tampered withand some evidence planted on it, his lawyers moved the BombayHigh Court on Wednesday for a stay on proceedings against himand his co-accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoists link case.

The lawyers of Wilson, a prison rights activist, fileda plea in the HC seeking the proceedings against him and hisco-accused be stayed in the 2017-18 Pune case and a SpecialInvestigation Team be constituted to inquire into the allegedincident of tampering.

Wilson was arrested in June 2018 following severalraids at his residence in Delhi by the Pune police, whichprobed the case before it was handed over to the NIA.

Before his arrest, the police claimed to have foundseveral incriminating material on his computer, including aletter that he had allegedly written talking of the ''need forarms, and a plan to overthrow the current government''.

The petition filed in the HC cites a digital forensicreport by a US-based firm that claims the letter and otherevidence had been planted in a hidden folder on Wilsonscomputer by an unidentified cyber attacker who used a malwareto control and spy on the laptop.

As per the report cited in the plea, Wilson's computerwas infected with a malware, called ''NetWire'', that wasplanted through an email on June 13, 2016.

The case pertains to the 'Elgar Parishad' conclaveheld in Pune on December 31, 2017, which, the police alleged,was funded by Maoists.