New Delhi: Former Director General of Border Security Force (BSF) KK Sharma, senior Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer Rajeshwar Singh, former aide of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal VK Jain, a retired Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officer, a junior to the Prime Minister . A report in The Wire said on Monday that the phone numbers of the ministerial office (PMO) and two former army officers were listed as possible targets of Pegasus surveillance.
Forbidden Stories, a non-profit based in France, was the first to receive the database, which was then shared with a group of media organizations in ten countries. Amnesty International examined at least 67 numbers of devices belonging to the device, and 37 of them showed signs of being hacked by Pegasus. Ten out of 37 were Indians living in that area.
A month after attending a meeting organized by an associate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, KK Sharma’s number was added to the list of potential surveillance targets (RSS). The incident sparked outrage in West Bengal, with the Trinamool Congress requesting an inquiry into Sharma’s presence at an RSS function during official work.
According to The Wire, between 2017 and 2019, ED joint director Rajeshwar Singh and a number of his family members were also selected for possible surveillance. Singh has probed several high-profile cases including the 2G spectrum allocation scam and the role of former finance minister P Chidambaram.
The database also contains the phone number of VK Jain, a former IAS officer who served as one of the top advisors to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. When the Delhi government started working on its education and infrastructure welfare programs in 2018, this number was added to the database.
Col Mukul Dev (retd), a former Army officer who has been with the Center on various subjects including the abolition of complimentary rations for officers posted in peace areas, was also listed as a potential target in 2019.
“I have been victimized in every possible way by this government for fighting for the welfare of the armed forces. This is the position of the present government. I came to know in 2018 that I was under surveillance, when I filed a complaint with the Punjab Police following direct threats”, Dev noted by The Wire.
Read also | Karnataka CM’s resignation: Senior BJP leaders meet, know who can be the successor
NSO Group has stated on several occasions that it only works with verified government customers. The firm has denied that the numbers in the leaked list are targeted by its customers.
Former Congress party chief Rahul Gandhi, two of his aides, political strategist Prashant Kishor, former election commissioner Ashok Lavasa and Union minister Prahlad Patel were allegedly hacked as per allegations released last week. The number of the woman who accused former Chief Justice of India Rajan Gogoi of sexual harassment was also on the list, along with the number of her friends and family members.
.