Elgar Parishad case: Accused claims emails intercepted without valid authorisation
While arguing his plea on Friday, Ferreira said that the court has scheduled the case for framing of charges hence before the trial began, he should be provided with a copy of the order.
Arun Ferreira, one of the accused in the Elgar Parishad case, on Friday alleged that the email recovered from the devices of accused Rona Wilson by the prosecution was intercepted without any valid authorisation.
In his plea, Ferreira claimed that since the prosecution was relying on the evidence, he needed to have a copy of the order authorising the agency to intercept the alleged emails.
The prosecution has been relying upon these emails to prove ‘deep-rooted conspiracy’ by the accused to destabilise the government, but the provenance of some of these documents have been brought into question by independent technical analysts, who have suggested these may have been planted after the devices being hacked.
Ferreira had moved a plea last month stating, “That electronic (email) communication between “Sreelal@riscup.net” and “lokayan2015@riseup.net” was intercepted by the Investigation Agency (Pune Police) on 9-07-2010, 14-07-2018, 6-08-2018 and 12.08.2018 and the material derived therefrom is being lead as evidence by the prosecution.”
While arguing his plea on Friday, Ferreira said that the court has scheduled the case for framing of charges hence before the trial began, he should be provided with a copy of the order.
“As per the panchnama and dates on the emails, these emails have been downloaded within an hour of being sent to the other email id, which is allegedly of one of the absconding accused. This falls under the definition of interception under IT Act,” Ferreira argued.
The prosecution, however, denied that these emails were intercepted. “The emails and contents have been downloaded at the time of the investigation. They were downloaded and not intercepted. Hence, there is no question of authorisation.”
In its reply, NIA said, “during the course of investigation electronic devices seized from Rona Wilson were sent to FSL for forensic examination. The data were analysed and accordingly found the username i.e. email ID sreelal@riseup.net and its password.”
Seeking rejection of the plea by Ferriera, the reply stated: “The Investigation officer then conducted a further investigation in presence of two independent witnesses with the help of a cyber expert and downloaded the communication of the email between sreelal@riseup.net and lokayan2015@reiseup.net in CD-R following due procedure on 04.07.2018, 14.07.2018, 06.08.2018 and 12.08.2018.”