The Apex Court is hearing a dozen petitions that allege the use of the spyware for surveillance. The government, however, has strongly denied allegations that it bought Pegasus software for snooping.
Kolkata: A cyber-security company which developed Pegasus had approached the state police at least four to five years back with an offer to sell the controversial Israeli spyware for just Rs 25 crore, said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday. She added that she had turned down the offer when she became aware of it.
Banerjee alleged that the central government had purchased it and had used it for “political” reasons against judges and bureaucrats instead of using the spyware for anti-national activities and for security. It could have been a different thing.
Mamata Banerjee, in the state assembly on Wednesday, had revealed that the West Bengal government was offered Pegasus spyware which she had declined as it had the potential to encroach upon people’s privacy. She had also claimed that the Andhra government “had it during Chandrababu (Naidu)’s time”.
The Telegu Desam Party denied the claim and said the Chandrababu Naidu government had made no such purchase. “We have never purchased any spyware. We never indulged in any illegal phone tapping,” Telugu Desam Party general secretary Nara Lokesh said here on Thursday. Lokesh further said “I don’t know whether she has indeed said this, and where and in which context. If she did say this, she is certainly misinformed.”
Controversy had erupted earlier when it was revealed that 300 phones from India were on the list of potential targets on the leaked database of NSO, which supplies the Pegasus spyware. It is not established, however, that all the phones were hacked. Phones of opposition leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Supreme Court judges, ministers, and journalists were among the potential targets.
The Apex Court is hearing a dozen petitions that allege the use of the spyware for surveillance. The government, however, has strongly denied allegations that it bought Pegasus software for snooping.
