Phones of two serving Union ministers, one sitting SC judge among suspected targets of Pegasus

The phones of two serving Union ministers, one sitting Supreme Court judge and three major opposition leaders are among the 300 Indian numbers that are suspected to be targeted by Israeli-origin surveillance software Pegasus, The Wire has reported.

The numbers of these prominent figures are part of a leaked database that contains over 300 verified Indian mobile telephone numbers, including those used by ministers, opposition leaders, journalists, legal luminaries, corporate honchos, government officials, scientists, social activists and others, according to the news portal.

In its report, The Wire said that it would reveal the names of some of these persons in the coming days. “The Wire will be revealing the names it has been able to verify under different categories, in a step by step fashion with its partners over the next few days,” the report said.

Most of the numbers were targeted between 2018 and 2019, in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

“The presence of a number in the database indicates its likely selection as a target for surveillance but whether a phone was actually hacked and infected can only be established through forensic examination of the device,” it said.

NSO Group, the Israeli company which sells Pegasus, says its clients are confined to “vetted governments” only. Which means there is little possibility of any private entity in India or abroad getting access to this highly sensitive software.

The journalists working on the investigation sent questions to India's PMO. The government brushed aside allegations of surveillance and insisted that it is committed to ensuring the right to privacy to all its citizens.

“In a response to detailed questions...the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said that ‘India is a robust democracy that is committed to ensuring the right to privacy to all its citizens as a fundamental right’ and that the ‘allegations regarding government surveillance on specific people has no concrete basis or truth associated with it whatsoever’,” the report added.

It pointed out that the Indian Telegraph Act and Information Technology Act prescribe procedures that must be followed for lawful interception and that the use of surveillance spyware through hacking in India by any individual, private or official, is an offence under the law.