Earlier this year, far-left media houses supporting the Urban Naxals accused in the Bhima Koregaon case had claimed that the emails and other documents recovered from the electronic devices of the accused were fake. Quoting a report by a so-called Digital Forensics Firm in the USA, a Washington Post report had claimed that a study of the data recovered from the laptop of Rona Wilson, one of the accused, were planted, and the report was subsequently carried by several media houses in India.
The same claim was also used during court hearings by those accused in the case. But now, it has been found that they themselves are using those emails in their defence, admitting the mails were not fake.
On July 12, a special NIA court had rejected the bail application of Dalit Activist Anand Teltumbde, saying that the charges against him are prima facie true. The court rejected the defence argument that he had no direct link with the even of Elgar Parishad, as his name was mentioned on the invitation card for the event, and he had gone to the location where the event was held.
The full order of the NIA Court in Mumbai has been made public, and it shows how the defendant had used the same emails that was claimed to be planted through malware. According to the court order, the defence lawyer had argued that in the mail dated 28/06/2014 from Anand Teltumbde to Rona Wilson, Teltumbde had requested to delete a sentence. This shows that the applicant does not support the Maoist ideology, the defence argument claimed.
Anand Teltumbde also claimed that mails exchanged between him and coaccused Hany Babu and Stan Swamy would reveal that there is nothing to implicate the accused.
Thus, the defence side mentioned the emails multiple times seeking bail for Anand Teltumbde. By this, they themselves demolished the claim that the mails were planted on Rona Wilson’s computer, as the first mail they mentioned was recovered from that source only.
According to the prosecution, in the email dated 28 June 2014 to Wilson, Teltumbde had requested to delete some portion from the press statement, which relates to ‘Inciting Dalit Militancy as well as Revolutionary Resurgence under Maoist Leadership’.
The prosecution has cited several email exchanges of Teltumbde with known Maoists and Maoist sympathisers, and the defendant has not argued that those are fake and planted emails. They have either use the same emails as defence argument, or said that the contents in those emails are incriminatory.
This make it clear that the emails and other documents seized from the computer of Rona Wilson and other accused are genuine, and they were not doctored or planted as alleged that leftist media houses.
