The Pegasus snoopgate scandal got bigger on Monday as names of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, poll strategist Prashant Kishor, Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Prahlad Patel surfaced among those who may have been the victim of the telephone tapping conspiracy.
A lady staffer of the Supreme Court who had accused former Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi of sexual abuse also figures on the list as a potential target of the Israeli spyware Pegasus in the latest set of explosive revelations by The Wire portal along with 15 international media organisations like
Forbidden Stories, The Washington Post and The Guardian.
Former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee’s names are also among those whose phones may have been compromised. Also on the list is the personal secretary to Vasundhara Raje Scindia, when she was the BJP’s Chief Minister in Rajasthan, The Wire reported.
The Israeli company, NSO Group, which sells Pegasus, has denied the snooping charges and claimed that it only offers its spyware to “vetted Governments” and said it was “considering a defamation lawsuit”.
The France-based media non-profit Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International’s Security Lab had access to these records, which they shared with The Wire and 16 other news organisations worldwide as part of a collaborative investigation and reporting project running over six months.
The Wire reported that Vaishnaw may have been targeted for possible surveillance back in 2017, when he had not yet joined the BJP. Another number, apparently listed in the name of his wife, also appears to have been selected.
As per the reports, phone of Rahul and seven of his friends phones were under target along with those of party colleagues Alankar Swai and Sachin Rao. The tapping is reported to have taken place during 2018-19 period. Rahul told The Wire that he had received suspicious WhatsApp messages in the past - one of the known vectors for a spyware hack - and frequently changed numbers and instruments so as to make it "a little harder for them" to target him.
The leaked data has also revealed that over 11 phone numbers belonging to the Supreme Court staffer and her close relatives who accused former Chief Justice of India Gogoi of sexual harassment in April 2019 were selected as targets for surveillance.
It is reported the lady staffer and her family's numbers came under snooping after she made complaints against Gogoi. The list also includes someone who has been a key part of India's battle against Covid-19, the virologist Gagandeep Kang. The leaked data also includes Hari Menon, the India head of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and at least one other foundation employee.
Former Election Commissioner Lavasa was in the good book of the Government after he dissented and reported on Model Code violations by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Lok Sabha election campaigns. The records also include a founder of key election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Jagdeep Chhokhar, who entered on to the list at around the same time as Lavasa.
Former VHP president Pravin Togadia and Smriti Irani's former OSD Sanjay Kachroo's names also figure in the snooping list. On Sunday evening, names of 40 Indian journalists, whose phones were allegedly tapped, was released. The Pioneer's journalist J Gopikrishnan's name also figured in the list of the victims of telephone tapping. According to the report, Prahlad Patel emerged as a person of particular interest. The leaked list not only contains phone numbers which belonged to him and his wife, but at least 15 of his close associates, including his private secretaries, political and office associates in Damoh, and even his cook and gardener as potential targets for surveillance.
Pateltold the media he has nothing to say on the matter as IT Minister Vaishnaw has already placed the Government stand on the issue.
