After Rona Wilson, US Forensic Firm Finds Digital Evidence 'Planted' On Stan Swamy's Computer

A US-based cyber forensics firm that analysed the computer of late human rights and tribal activist Stan Swamy has found that incriminating documents, based on which he was arrested in 2020 in the Elgar Parishad case, were 'planted' by hackers.

The Washington Post, citing the findings of Arsenal Consulting, said that "Swamy was the target of an extensive malware campaign for nearly five years, the longest known for any defendant, right up until police seized his device in June 2019."

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Hacker gained full access to Swamy's computer

"During that period, the hacker gained full access and had complete control over his computer, dropping dozens of files into a hidden folder without his knowledge," the Arsenal report, based on examination of an electronic copy of his computer, said.

"Over 50 files were created on Swamy's hard drive, including incriminating documents that fabricated links between him and the Maoist insurgency. The final incriminating document was planted on his computer on June 5, 2019, a week before the raid on Swamy," the report said.

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Hacker copied files from Swamy's computer

According to Arsenal Consulting's findings, in October 2014, Swamy's device was infected with NetWire. This malware can upload and download documents from a target's computer and access emails and passwords.

It further said that the hacker used WinSCP ¨C a free file transfer tool for Windows ¨C to copy over 24,000 files and folders from Swamy's computer onto the hacker's server.

84-year-old Swamy, a Jesuit priest detained for nine months without trial, died in July 2021.

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Evidence planted on another activist's laptop

It should be noted that this is not the first time Arsenal Consulting has found a similar pattern of planting evidence on digital devices of activists arrested for alleged Maoist links in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.

The Elgar case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the 'Elgar Parishad' conclave, held at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the city's outskirts.

The Pune Police claimed Maoists backed the conclave.

In February 2021, Arsenal Consulting said that the laptop of Rona Wilson, another arrested activist, was infected with the same malware, NetWire (available for $10 online), which was planted through an email on June 13, 2016, two years before his arrest on Jun 6, 2018.

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The malware was sent to Wilson's laptop from the email id of one of the other accused in the case, Varavara Rao.

Arsenal Consulting, 52 documents were stored in a hidden folder called 'Rbackup' using the malware. The last document was added just a day before Wilson's house was searched and his laptop was seized on April 17, 2018.

Arsenal Consulting's president Mark Stevens had said it was "one of the most serious cases involving evidence tampering" that the firm had encountered.

In December 2021, Arsenal Consulting further found that the iPhone of Wilson was infected with NSO Group's spyware Pegasus in 2018.

According to the analysis, Wilson, a prisoners' rights activist and academic, was a victim of "surveillance and incriminating document delivery" for close to a year before his arrest in June 2018.

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