Maha case against activists hinges on ‘digital evidence’

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government’s case against the activists arrested on Tuesday for their alleged Maoist links rests largely on digital data allegedly recovered by the Pune police from the seized laptops, hard discs and pen drives of five other activists arrested earlier in June.

The state’s home department, which cleared the controversial multi-state raids and arrests is convinced that the emails recovered provide “ample evidence” against activists for working as fronts for a banned Maoist group, the CPI (Maoist), and conspiring against the government, according to a state government official.

State government and police officials have shared with HT eight such emails which are now part of the state’s case against the activists. HT couldn’t independently ascertain the authenticity or provenance of these mails.

The Pune police arrested trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, poet Varavara Rao, and activists Vernon Gonzalves, Arun Ferreira and Gautam Navlakha on Tuesday. In June, the police arrested lawyer Surendra Gadling, activists Rona Wilson, Mahesh Raut, professor Shoma Sen and Sudhir Dhawale for their involvement in organising Elegar Parishad in Pune on December 31 and for allegedly having links with Maoists.

“There is ample evidence to nail each person arrested so far. Our case is that urban naxal network made of such activists has been playing a crucial role in mobilising, funding, organising arms for the naxal movement. These people are part of several civil rights outfits that are used as a front for Maoist activities,” added the government official who did not want to be named.

The government has also sent a report to the Union home ministry, summing up the evidence from the digital data, which also includes copies of letters seized from the laptops and hard discs.

The emails seen by HT have MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena Thursday said its ally BJP had protested the term “Hindu terrorism” when it was in the opposition, but in a “surprise” stance it was now branding people as “Hindu terrorists” and working towards wiping them out. “Now, there is BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra, still ‘Hindu terrorism’ is being spoken about. The government should clarify this,” an editorial in Sena’s mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ said. “The government has decided that everybody is a Hindu terrorist and they should be finished.”

varied information and name those arrested, except Navlakha. The information includes reference to purchase of equipment from a Nepali supplier, details of mobilising recruits, funding for protests and fact finding teams.

Lawyers defending the activists say the letters and emails are not verified. “The letters seem bogus. For starters, I don’t think Maoists put down details like minutes of a government meeting in their communication,” said Mihir Desai, advocate who is offering legal advice to Gadling and Ferreira. “The prosecution says that CPI (Maoist) is a covert organisation that works by exchanging coded messages. Their leaders are given pseudonyms and yet the mails the police seems to have accessed have all the activists signing off with their own names... The letters are concocted,” said Rohan Nahar, advocate for Varavara Rao.

Desai and Nahar have not accessed the letters or emails but the prosecution lawyer has mentioned some details in Pune court.