Jan 29, 2022: According to a New York Times report, the Indian government led by Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi acquired spyware from Israel as part of a weapon purchase deal in 2017.

On its own part, Indian government has denied that it bought the Israeli-made spyware, which was allegedly used to hack the phones of its opponents, rights activists and journalists in India. The report, released Friday, said Pegasus and missile systems were at the center of a nearly ً 2 billion deal for state-of-the-art weapons and intelligence tools.

India’s defense ministry told parliament last year that it had no dealings with NSO Group Technologies. But India’s main opposition party, the Congress, has accused the government of “treason.” “The Modi government bought Pegasus to spy on our basic democratic institutions, politicians and the people. These phone tappings targeted government officials, opposition leaders, the armed forces and the judiciary. It is treason,” he said. Leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted on Saturday.

Last October, India’s Supreme Court set up a three member panel to investigate the alleged use of Israeli spyware for surveillance in India.

Last year, an investigation by a global consortium of media outlets revealed how governments around the world used Israeli-made malicious spyware to spy on distributors and journalists through their mobile phones.

More than 1,000 phone numbers in India were selected from around 50,000 worldwide, possibly of interest to clients of the NSO Group based in Israel, which makes Pegasus spyware.

The New York Times report said, “Modi’s visit to Israel in 2017 was notably cordial, complete with a carefully staged moment of him and Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu walking together barefoot on a local beach,”

“Their countries had agreed on the sale of a package of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear worth roughly $2bn – with Pegasus and a missile system as the centerpieces,” the newspaper said.

“Months later, Netanyahu made a rare state visit to India. And in June 2019, India voted in support of Israel at the UN’s Economic and Social Council to deny observer status to a Palestinian human rights organisation, a first for the nation.”

The Israeli government has distanced itself from the issue since the technology firm was blacklisted by the United States late last year.

The NYT also said the FBI, too, had tested the spyware “for years with plans to use it for domestic surveillance until the agency finally decided last year not to deploy the tools”.

According to the newspaper, several ministers, politicians, activists, businessmen and journalists were targeted by Pegasus software. Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch said a senior staff member had been targeted five times with Pegasus in the past year.

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