@roamer_1
Can you tell anything from this screenshot? It looks like they tried to extend the partition in order to erase data.
@Hoodat Oh wait, I get it... You are looking at the part errors in the bottom window. Looks more to me like someone deleted the part and the recovery software rebuilt it with errors... Easy enough to alter the partition info to extend beyond the recovery target area, providing the drive you raw-imaged to can take it.
To answer your question, no, messing with part size does not mess with the data - It just defines the 'window' dimensions on the drive. the data that was in theory blown on there prior to the adjustment would be relatively pristine, providing nothing was overwritten.
If you have ever had to rewrite partition parameters, you'll note that your data all comes back once the partition is redefined properly - This is the same thing.
If somebody real was trying to kill data on that drive you know that would be a gvt wipe - Heck, zeroing out the drive would likely wreck it enough that data would not be meaningfully recovered... So likely, some political dork thought they were deleting the evidence by killing the part, or deleting everything on the part.