Pegasus Project | Phones linked to top Congress-JDS leaders in Karnataka were 'potential targets' in 2019, says report

File image of former Karnataka CMs Siddaramaiah and HD Kumaraswamy

The phone numbers linked to top Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) leaders in Karnataka were likely targeted with Pegasus spyware in July 2019, shortly before the HD Kumaraswamy-led government was toppled, a report said on July 20.

The phone numbers which were allegedly targeted include those of G Parameshwara, the then deputy chief minister of Karnataka, and personal secretaries of then Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy and former state CM Siddaramaiah, The Wire reported.

The numbers were part of the leaked database which was accessed by French media non-profit Forbidden Stories, and later shared with an international consortium of media organisations including The Wire.

Notably, the Congress-JDS coalition government was pulled down in Karnataka in July 2019, after 17 legislators belonging to the two parties jumped ship to the rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Explained | Everything you need to know about Pegasus: The Israeli spyware used to snoop on politicians, activists and journalists

The report, which claims that Congress-JDS leaders were likely snooped in July 2019, noted that in the absence of digital forensics, "it cannot be conclusively established" that the phone numbers of the above individuals were subjected to an attempted hack.

The Congress, after taking cognisance of the report, has called a meeting of its party leaders in Karnataka.

The findings come a day after the leaked database suggested that numbers linked to Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, Trinamool Congress (TMC) general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, poll strategist Prashant Kishor, former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Union MoS Prahlad Patel were potentially targeted.

On July 18, the reports suggested that over 300 phones were likely targeted in India, including those linked to journalists, judges and politicians.

The Pegasus spyware, which was used to allegedly target the phones, is developed by Israeli firm NSO Group. The company has rejected the findings of the international consortium of media organisations, which includes The Guardian, Washington Post, Le Monde, Die Zeit, Suddeutsche Zeitung and 10 other Mexican, Arab and European news outlets apart from The Wire.

Vaishnaw, in his address to the Lok Sabha on July 19 shortly before his name propped up in the Pegasus-related leaks, said the media reports are sensationalist and lack substance. Illegal surveillance is not possible in India, he told the lawmakers.

"When we look at this issue through the prism of logic, it clearly emerges that there is no substance, whatsoever, behind this sensationalism," he said.

"Any form of illegal surveillance is not possible with checks and balances in our laws and robust institutions. In India, there is a well-established procedure through which lawful interception of electronic communication is carried out for purpose of national security," the minister added.