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Evidence planted on activist Father Stan Swamy's laptop over alleged terror links: US firm report

by Trans World Features | @twfindia 13 Dec 2022, 09:27 pm

New Delhi : Multiple incriminating documents were planted in the computer of Father Stan Swamy, the 83-year-old activist-priest who was arrested for alleged terror links in 2020 and who died in custody a year later, a new report by an American forensic firm reveals.

The report raises serious questions over the National Investigation Agency (NIA)'s charges against Stan Swamy, which relates to alleged electronic correspondence between the priest and supposed Maoist leaders to make the case that he was part of an explosive Naxal conspiracy.

In its findings, Arsenal Consulting, a Boston-based forensic outfit hired by Swamy's lawyers, stated that close to 44 documents, including the so-called Maoist letters, were planted by an unknown cyber attacker who gained access to Swamy's computer over an extended period of five years, starting from 2014 to the point when he was raided in 2019.

Arsenal Consulting claimed it has extensive experience working in digital forensics and has investigated multiple high-profile cases like the Boston Marathon bombing case.

Jesuit priest and activist Stan Swamy, who was an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoists link case, was arrested in 2020.

He passed away within a year of his incarceration due to Covid-related complications.

The UN and the EU both reacted strongly to the news of Father Stan Swamy's death. A UN official called the news "devastating," and added that the priest had been imprisoned on "false charges of terrorism". 

The NIA, however, claimed he was part of a conspiracy along with 15 others to instigate riots in the village of Bhima-Koregaon in Maharashtra in 2018, when scores of Dalits had gathered to commemorate a historic battle in which Dalits defeated an upper caste army.