‘Conspiracy isn’t by accused, but rather to implicate them’
Speaking at an online press conference on the US firm Arsenal Consulting’s report, which concluded that incriminating evidence was planted in the computer of Bhima-Koregaon accused and activist Rona Wilson, senior advocate Mihir Desai said that the conspiracy is not by the accused, but rather to implicate them.
Desai said the evidence found on Rona Wilson’s computer was used as a central pillar to arrest various others in the case. Once it has been shown that the evidence is prima facie suspect, the case should be quashed and all accused should be released on bail immediately. Stating that it ‘punches a hole’ in the prosecution’s case, he said that since nowadays more and more electronic evidence is used to implicate several people and attacks, such as that on Wilson, can be used as a surveillance tool, there needs to be a full-fledged inquiry into who planted it. Colleague of Jesuit priest Stan Swamy, Father Solomon, another speaker, said that for people of the 60’s and 70’s it is unimaginable that such attacks could take place and Stan Swamy, now 83, was ‘baffled initially’ when Solomon had told him that computers could be attacked. He recalled that Swamy had asserted to the NIA during his questioning that he had no knowledge of the content pointed out to him by the agency that it alleged was found on his device and had disowned them. Sagar Gonsalves, son of activist Vernon Gonsalves, also in custody in the case, said the letters were used as a propaganda tool and the damage they have done cannot be put into words. “They were used to create a narrative so that people see them as urban naxals. People who know nothing about their work have even called for their execution, which is extremely harsh,” he said.