'Damning indictment' of govt: CPI-M on US lab report in Stan Swamy case

Today it is the Bhima Koregaon detainees who were targeted by this dangerous technology and malware.

The CPI-M on Wednesday said that the latest report of a US-based forensic firm about the digital evidence used to arrest Father Stan Swamy in the Bhima-Koregaon case is a ''damning indictment of the government to target those against whom they have no evidence''.

A new forensic report prepared by US-based private laboratory Arsenal Consulting claimed that there are signs that some hackers ''planted evidence'' on the hard drive of the computer of late Father Stan Swamy, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case who died last July in hospital while in judicial custody. He was arrested by the NIA in October 2020 in the January 2018 case.

''The latest report along with the earlier ones is a damning indictment of this government and the modus operandi of the NIA to target and to imprison those against whom they have no evidence except that which they have manufactured themselves. ''Today it is the Bhima Koregaon detainees who were targeted by this dangerous technology and malware. Tomorrow any opponent of this regime can be similarly targeted,'' the party said in a statement.

The CPI-M demanded that all the Bhima Koregaon accused be immediately released from jail.

''NIA should not deny their bail applications and or discharge appeals; an expert, fair re-examination taking into account the forensic evidence available should be made in a time-bound framework,'' it said.

Arsenal had earlier given similar findings in four reports on co-accused Rona Wilson's laptop and also that of another co-accused Surendra Gadling, saying they were ''compromised'' by alleged malware attacks.