Evidence planted in Bhima Koregaon accused Rona Wilson's computer: US firm

Activist Rona Wilsons computer was compromised for over 22 months before the Pune Police raided his home in New Delhi and arrested him as coaccused in Bhima Koregaon violence claimed the Massachusettsbased digital forensics firm Arsenal DigitalThe firm in its report said that the 10 letters used first by Pune Police and later the National Investigation Agency NIA as the base of their evidence against the activists accused in the case was planted in Wilsons by hackers via malicious software or MalwareAttaching the digital forensic report of Arsenal Rona Wilsons lawyer Sudeep Pasbola on Wednesday filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking dismissal of the case against his client in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violenceArsenal has been retained by the defense team for Rona Jacob Wilson to analyse electronic evidence seized from his home by the Pune police department on April 17 2018Arsenal received a hard drive on July 31 2020 which contained forensic images and police work product related to Wilson and other defendants in the Bhima Koregaon caseArsenals analysis has been based largely on a forensic image obtained from the Toshiba hard drive within Wilsons computer and a thumb drive which had been attached to the computer the digital firms report saidArsenal said that its analysis has revealed that Wilsons computer was compromised for just over 22 months and the attacker responsible for compromising his computer had extensive resources including time and it is obvious that their primary goals were surveillance and incriminating document deliveryThe firm said it connected the same attacker to a significant malware infrastructure which has been deployed over the course of approximately four years to not only attack and compromise Wilsons computer for 22 months but to attack his codefendants in the Bhima Koregaon case and defendants in other highprofile Indian cases as wellIt should be noted that this is one of the most serious cases involving evidence tampering that Arsenal has ever encountered based on various metrics which include the vast timespan between the delivery of the first and last incriminating documentsWilsons computer was compromised on June 13 2016 after a series of suspicious emails with someone using Varavara Raos email account the report saidVaravara Rao is one of Wilsons codefendants in the Bhima Koregaon caseArsenal has found no evidence which would suggest that the top ten most important documents used in the prosecution against Wilson the top ten documents15 were ever interacted with in any legitimate way on Wilsons computer More particularly there is no evidence that would suggest any of the top ten documents or the hidden folder they were contained in were ever opened the report addedEarlier the Pune Police had mentioned in the court that the contents of these letters claim that the arrested accused were planning Prime Minister Narendra Modis assassination and were hatching a conspiracyWilson was among those who were arrested in June 2018 for their alleged ties with Naxals and for inciting riots during a celebratory gathering organised to mark the 200 years of the KoregaonBhima battleOn January 1 2018 the violence at Bhima Koregaonvillage in Pune district left one dead and injured several others including 10 policemenViolence erupted after some people reportedly with saffron flags pelted stones at cars heading towards the village for the commemoration of the 200 years of BhimaKoregaon war on New Years DayThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever