Father Stan Swamy, an 83-year-old activist-priest who was detained for his alleged links to terrorism in 2020 and who passed away in detention a year later, had many damning papers planted in his computer, according to a recent investigation by an American forensic firm.
The National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) accusations against Stan Swamy, which center on purported electronic correspondence between the priest and purported Maoist officials to support the contention that he was a part of a highly explosive Naxal conspiracy, are blown to pieces by the report, NDTV reported.
In its findings, Boston-based Arsenal Consulting, a forensic company retained by Swamy’s attorneys, claims that close to 44 documents, including the alleged Maoist letters, were inserted by an unidentified cyberattacker who gained access to Swamy’s computer over a lengthy period of five years, starting in 2014 and ending at the time of his raid in 2019.
According to Arsenal Consulting, it has a wealth of experience in digital forensics and has looked into a number of high-profile cases, including the Boston Marathon bombing case.
Swamy, a Jesuit priest serving among tribal people in Jharkhand, was detained in the Bhima Koregaon case, a decision that drew much criticism. When he passed away from difficulties caused by Covid within a year of his imprisonment, the condemnation intensified. The announcement of Father Stan Swamy’s passing sparked significant reactions from both the UN and the EU. The revelation was described as “devastating” by a UN official, who also noted that the priest had been detained on “false charges of terrorism.”
The NIA, however, asserted that he and 15 other individuals conspired to cause rioting in the Maharashtrian village of Bhima-Koregaon in 2018 as a large gathering of Dalits gathered to remember a historic battle in which Dalits defeated an upper caste army.
Based on documents retrieved from their computers, the NIA had also charged Swamy and the others – mainly left-leaning activists, academics, and human rights defenders – with plotting with Maoists to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In a video recorded just before his arrest in 2020, Father Swamy had rubbished the purported Maoist letters found on his computer, saying he “denied and disowned every single extract that was put before me” by investigators.
Now, about 17 months after his death, Arsenal Consulting’s report shows that the hacker used a malware called NetWire to gain access to Father Swamy’s computer on October 19, 2014, for both highly invasive surveillance and “document delivery”.
According to Arsenal, one such document “delivered” by the attacker to Stan Swamy’s computer and part of the NIA’s chargesheet against the priest, was an alleged letter sent by one “SS” – presumed to be Father Stan Swamy – to a “Vijayan Dada” on October 2017. In the letter, “SS” asks “Vijayan” to take action “to capture senior leaders of ruling BJP in the state and demand that the oppressive laws be done with.”
‘Maoist’ letter, part of chargesheet against Father Stan Swamy, was planted on his computer as per US report.
Another document in the NIA chargesheet against Swamy, detailing the manpower and weaponry of a Maoist outfit called People’s Liberation Guerilla Army in different Indian states, is also among the planted documents, Arsenal says.
Another document in the NIA chargesheet against Swamy, detailing the manpower and weaponry of a Maoist outfit called People’s Liberation Guerilla Army in different Indian states, is also among the planted documents, Arsenal says.
According to Arsenal, they “found no evidence which would suggest that the… documents were ever interacted with in any legitimate way on Fr. Swamy’s computer. More specifically, there is no evidence which would suggest any of the (planted) documents, or the hidden 22 folders they were contained in, were ever opened” by Swamy.
Earlier reports by Arsenal Consulting had found proof of similar planting of evidence on the systems of at least two other co-accused in the Bhima Koregaon case – activists Rona Wilson and Surendra Gadling. The reports found an unknown hacker had planted over 30 documents on the computer belonging to Rona Wilson and at least 14 incriminating letters on Surendra Gadling’s computer.
All three – Stan Swamy, Surendra Gadling and Rona Wilson – were targeted by the same hacker, according to Arsenal.
While Arsenal has not speculated on the identity of the attacker, the report says the attacker made frantic attempts to “perform an extensive cleanup of their malicious activities” on June 11, 2019 – a day before the Pune Police seized Stan Swamy’s computer (June 12). The timing raises the question of whether the hacker had prior knowledge of the impending police action.
NDTV wrote to the NIA requesting for comments on the findings of Arsenal Consulting, but did not receive a response till the time this article was published. The story will be updated if any response is received from the agency.