The phone numbers of then BSF chief KK Sharma, Joint Director of the Enforcement Directorate Rajeshwar Singh and his family members, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s former chief consultant VK Jain, two Army Colonels and one RAW officer, and one under secretary from PMO too were targets of snooping done through the use of Pegasus spyware.
Bihar Cricket Association Secretary and BJP leader Rakesh Tiwary too has found a place in the snooping list, said a report by The Wire portal.
The leaked database also shows that a BSF Inspector General of Police, Jagdish Maithani, was selected as a potential target for surveillance around the same time along with then BSF chief KK Sharma. ED officer Rajeshwar Singh, who investigated many key cases like 2G Scam and Aircel-Maxis, had troubles with then Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia. Rajeshwar Singh was considered in the camp of CBI Director Alok Verma during his tussle with Special Director Rakesh Asthana during 2017-2018. The phones of Singh’s wife and two sisters also figured in the tapped list.
Kejriwal’s former chief consultant Jain was handling key files and was a witness in the case of assault on then Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash by AAP MLAs.
“VK Jain, a former Indian Administrative Service officer who worked as a personal assistant to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, also appears to have been marked as a person of interest. In addition, the leaked records contain details of the numbers of at least one official each from the PMO and NITI Aayog,” said the report. However, the report did not name the officials of PMO and Niti Ayog.
“Two phone numbers used by Rakesh Tiwary (Bihar Cricket Association Secretary) were selected as possible candidates for surveillance in 2018 by an unknown client of the NSO Group, as per the leaked records, about a year before he became president of the Bihar Cricket Association. The Wire spoke to Tiwary on both phone numbers that are part of the leaked data. He said that he did not believe the list of records is real,” said the report.
RAW officer Jitendra Kumar Ojha who had filed a case against the organization also figured in the list. He was in charge of training Indian spies at RAW’s academy in Delhi between 2013 and 2015 and also served in London. He was eased out of the service in January 2018. Aggrieved by his premature “retirement” from service, he moved the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in February 2018.
“This is brazenly criminal, particularly to have brought my wife’s phone under surveillance. I suspect this is being done at the behest of criminalised officers, with the objective to bring psychological pressure on me, while I fight my case,” said Ojha.
The leaked database also contains the numbers of at least two Indian Army officers who took on the Government on service-related matters. Colonel Mukul Dev shot to prominence in 2017 when he sent a legal notice to the secretary of defence arguing against the Government order to scrap free rations for officers who are posted in peace areas. He was posted as deputy judge advocate general in the Jodhpur-based 12 Corps.
“I am surprised to know that this may have happened. The only reason I can think of is that they perhaps did not like the fact that I consistently raised my voice for the welfare of the Indian Army,” he told The Wire. “Under this government, whoever raises genuine concerns is looked at with suspicion,” said Dev.
“Colonel Amit Kumar was also from the legal division within the armed forces and selected for potential surveillance at around the same time as Dev. Kumar was posted as a legal officer at the corps headquarters in Jammu and Kashmir when in August 2018, a few months prior to his appearance in the database, he filed a petition in the Supreme Court on behalf of 356 Army personnel against what they apprehended was an impending dilution of the Armed Forces (Special Forces) Act (AFSPA),” said The Wire report.
Kumar said that he was aware that he may have been under surveillance in 2020, but was surprised to learn that it may have begun in 2018. “I am not anti-national. What will they get from my phone? My phone is filled with patriotism. There is nothing else of interest,” he told The Wire.
