Politicians, Journalists, Activists바카라�Pegasus Spares None, Hears Them All

According to media reports, Rahul바카라�s phone was targeted twice in 2018-19 when he was Congress president and leading the party바카라�s campaign for Lok Sabha elections. At least five of his close aides and other party workers were also identified as possible ­targets. Sachin Rao, AICC training ­in-charge, is one of the aides whose name figured in the leaked data. According to Rao, the surveillance is not merely for gathering political inf­ormation, but also meant for people who are getting in the way of power. 바카라�I think Rahul Gandhi was targeted as he consistently called out the government. What is this episode conveying to the world? That someone is willing to pay Rs 300 crore to spy on 300 ­people. It바카라�s a price tag put on our ­democracy. We should collectively ask where they got such money to capture our democracy,바카라� he says.

ALSO READ:

Rao, who didn바카라�t have any inkling that he too was under surveillance, says he was shocked by the revelation that the phone of the woman who filed a sexual harassment case against a former CJI as well as the phones of her family members were being hacked. 바카라�My heart goes out to that family,바카라� says Rao.

Another revelation that hit who was the headlines was the hacking of Prashant Kishor바카라�s phone. Forensic ­examination of the phone revealed that it was compromised as recently as July 13, when he met Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi in New Delhi. Observers say spying on Kishor바카라�s phone was significant as he is believed to have an important role to play in the run-up to the state elections due early next year and the 2024 general ­elections. According to the reports, Kishor바카라�s phone was also compromised on April 28, a day before the last phase of polling in the West Bengal assembly election. Kishor played a crucial role in Mamata Banerjee바카라�s ­resounding victory against the BJP. Another name that found mention in the hacking list was her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee.

ALSO READ:

The Congress camp is also ­intrigued by the revelation that phone numbers of leaders of the then Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress government in Karnataka were possible targets for surveillance in 2019. That was the time when the coalition collapsed and the BJP took over with B.S. Yediyurappa as the CM. While the Congress blamed 바카라�snooping바카라� for the fall of the government, ­forensic examination was not conducted on the devices to back the claim. Congress leader Sushmita Dev says the government has to come clean on what is being dubbed 바카라�Pegasus snoopgate바카라�. 바카라�If one looks at the profile of the people who are being spied upon, and the who­pping money paid, it shows the involvement of ­political power,바카라� she says.

Among others on the list is Jagdeep Chhokar, co-founder of the Association for Democratic Reforms. 바카라�We have been doing things that will improve democracy by reforming the electoral process. Does that amount to being against the government? We have been doing this for the past 20 years. My work is in public ­domain. Therefore, it was completely ­unnecessary to waste money by ­spying on me,바카라� says Chhokar.

ALSO READ:

Forensic examination of some of the phones of the 40 journalists identified as potential targets has confirmed ­infection. While most of the journalists work in English language national media, the list also includes others such as Jharkhand-based Hindi ­journalist Rupesh Kumar Singh and Jaspal Singh Heran, editor of Rozana Pehredar, a Punjabi daily. Rupesh, who freelances for Hindi publications, says he was not surprised when his name figured on the list of journalists who might have been targeted by the Pegasus malware. 바카라�In Jharkhand, the government often ties up with foreign corporates and gives away Adivasi land for their use. Whenever Adivasis raise their voice, they are labelled as Maoists and killed in fake encounters. My reporting has been primarily foc­used on this,바카라� he says, adding that he was arrested in a fabricated case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act when his reports on police violence against Adivasis sparked a row. The Jharkhand-based journalist claims he was aware that his phone was being tapped, but he thought it was being done by the district police. 바카라�I did not know about the extent of surv­eillance and the central government바카라�s role in it. Although the government is denying its role, the NSO Group has clearly stated that it sells only to ­governments. All those who have ­spoken out against this government and exposed its workings have been targeted. The aim is to suppress their voices and instill fear in them,바카라� he says.

Calling the Pegasus episode 바카라�an ­attack on our freedom바카라�, Heran says it won바카라�t deter him from doing 바카라�fearless journalism바카라�. 바카라�If this has been carried out by the government, then democracy is a myth. We are living in a dictatorship. If anyone who speaks up is met with sticks and stones, then how are we a democracy?바카라� he asks.

In 2019, when WhatsApp said it had alerted the government about 121 phones being compromised, experts pointed out that no due process was ­followed. Apar Gupta, executive ­director at Internet Freedom Foundation, says the government should now initiate a high-level ­independent investigation. 바카라�There is a credible basis to the allegations being raised with respect to threats of nat­ional security, given that the targeted people are public personalities holding high offices. The lack of a clear denial by the government raises the possibility of a foreign ­government using Pegasus to target Indian citizens. At the very least, a joint parliamentary committee is needed to restore some degree of confidence, if not to address the breach of national security,바카라� says Gupta.

Though the Union minister for information technology ­denied any unauthorised ­spying and claimed that the agencies stick to well-established protocols on interception, experts point out the faultlines in existing laws and their implementation. Pranesh Prakash, co-founder of the Centre for Internet and Society, alleges that the 바카라�checks and balances바카라� are not being followed. 바카라�Though we have laws regulating ­interception, those are not followed and legal action is not taken when they are not followed. With regard to intelligence agencies, there are no regulations. Even other agencies are conducting surveillance in India,바카라� says Prakash.

The leaked data also includes at least nine phone numbers belonging to activists, lawyers and academics ­arrested in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon 바카라�Maoist conspiracy바카라� case. Jenny Rowena, wife of arrested academic Hany Babu, whose phone number figured on the list of potential targets, says the revelations vindicate the stand of the accused that electronic data cannot be used as the sole evidence. 바카라�US-based Arsenal Consulting had already found that two of the devices of the accused have been compromised and malware planted in them. The recent revelations have only vindicated our position. The right to privacy has also been violated,바카라� she says.

Minal Gadling, wife of arrested ­lawyer Surendra Gadling, claims her phone has been compromised since 2019. 바카라�I didn바카라�t think of taking any precautions because I don바카라�t have anything to hide. I only ensured that I didn바카라�t put my SIM in anyone else바카라�s phone,바카라� she says. Now that her phone number has again appeared on the Pegasus list, Minal says it is a serious case of intrusion into privacy. 바카라�My privacy was violated, as was my husband바카라�s, but they even went to the ­extent of targeting my family members. Even if they targeted only my phone, my kin are indirectly being affected. Our messages, pictures and locations바카라�why should the world know about these?바카라� she asks.

Apar Gupta finds a connection here. 바카라�The 2019 reports on the first list of Pegasus targets included several ­activists, including those who are being prosecuted in the Bhima-Koregaon case. Forensic analysis by Arsenal Consulting showed that the devices of two of the accused had been tampered with and hacked by spyware. Putting two and two ­together, there is a strong inference that makes the evidence, which forms the basis of the criminal invest­igation, suspect,바카라� he says.

***

Past Prying

1969 Indira Gandhi vs Syndicate

When Congress expelled then prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1969, she formed a rival outfit바카라�Congress (Requisitionists)바카라�while K. Kamaraj led the Congress (Organisation), more popularly called the Syndicate. Its leaders like Kamaraj, Morarji Desai, S. Nijalingappa and Hitendra Desai would routinely accuse Indira of tapping their phones.

1975-1977  The Emergency years

Accounts by politicians, journalists and civil society members suggest that Indira Gandhi routinely placed not just her political rivals, but also her own party colleagues, under different forms of surveillance, including phone taps.

The M.K. Dhar revelations

In his 2005 book, Open Secrets: India바카라�s Intelligence Unveiled, the late Maloy Krishna Dhar, a former joint director in the Intelligence Bureau (IB), accused Indira Gandhi of being the country바카라�s first politician who frequently authorised phone taps. Among a score of other revelations, Dhar바카라�s book claimed that soon after Maneka Gandhi had walked out of Indira바카라�s house in 1982, the PM had ordered phones of her estranged daughter-in-law and her mother, Amteshwar Anand, to be tapped. Dhar also claimed that among others whose phones were tapped at various times on Indira바카라�s directions was then home minister Giani Zail Singh.

Dhar바카라�s book also claims that PM Rajiv Gandhi too ordered IB to snoop on Zail Singh, who by then was the President of India. According to Dhar, even Rashtrapati Bhavan was bugged, and that Singh would insist that visiting politicians and dignitaries should meet him on the Rashtrapati Bhavan lawns.

1990 V.P. Singh vs Chandra Shekhar

Months before he succeeded V.P. Singh as PM, Chandra Shekhar had alleged the central government was illegally tapping his phones along with those of 26 other politicians. Though a CBI probe ordered by Singh concluded none of Shekhar바카라�s phones were tapped, the inquiry report claimed the Rajiv Gandhi government had illegally tapped phones of scores of politicians, including Union ministers Arif Mohammed Khan and K.C. Pant, former CMs A.R. Antulay, Chiman­bhai Patel and M. Karunanidhi, and others.

1991 Chandra Shekhar vs Rajiv Gandhi

Four months after he became PM following his accusations against V.P. Singh of authorising illegal phone taps, Chandra Shekhar faced allegations of spying on Rajiv Gandhi. Congress, which had extended outside support to Shekhar바카라�s unsteady coalition government, alleged that two Haryana policemen were caught near Rajiv바카라�s 10 Janpath home spying on the former PM. It triggered Shekhar바카라�s resignation as PM within days.

1980s Karnataka Ramakrishna Hegde and Gundu Rao

In 1988, then Karnataka CM Ramakrishna Hegde of the Janata Party was forced to step down after being accused of illegally tapping phones of over 50 politicians, including H.D. Deve Gowda, Ajit Singh and Veerappa Moily. Earlier, the state바카라�s Congress government under R. Gundu Rao too had faced allegations of illegally snooping on stalwarts like S. Bangarappa and Devraj Urs.

2006 Sonia Gandhi vs Amar Singh

In January 2006, then UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav addressed a press conference and accused Congress president Sonia Gandhi of ordering tapping the phones of his close aide Amar Singh. Then Tamil Nadu CM J. Jayalalitha joined the chorus, claiming her phones had also been tapped.

2010: The NTRO surveillance scandal

The UPA government was again in the dock in April 2010 over a report first published by Outlook, claiming mobile phones of Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat and Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, among others, had been tapped by National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO).

Pranab Mukherjee, A.K. Antony, Yashwant Sinha and Arun Jaitley

UPA-II was repeatedly rocked by allegations of illegal surveillance. The most embarrassing episode was the allegation that then Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee바카라�s North Block office had been bugged, which triggered a crisis in June 2011. Opposition leaders, particularly from the BJP, alleged the finance minister바카라�s office had been bugged on authorisation of home minister P. Chidambaram. A sweep conducted by private investigators, however, dismissed the allegations.

In 2012, there were reports that a bug had been found in the office of then defence minister A.K. Antony, but an IB probe dismissed the allegation. The same year, then BJP leader Yashwant Sinha (left) accused Chidambaram of authorising illegal tapping of his phone. The following year, the gove­rn­ment was once again ambushed by allegations of sno­o­ping on Arun Jaitley, then leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha. 

The Niira Radia tapes

The leaked telephonic conversations of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia with then Union minister A. Raja and scores of other politicians and prominent journalists in the run-up to the UPA-II cabinet formation was arguably one of the biggest phone-tapping scandals in India. Radia was accused of trying to influence decisions on cabinet formation by lobbying for the appointment of Raja as telecom minister and scuttling the chances of Dayanidhi Maran. Raja was later accused in the 2G spectrum scam, but was cleared of all charges by a special CBI court.

***

The Snooping 10

These are intelligence and investigating agencies, including Delhi Police, that have been granted permission to intercept, monitor and decrypt 바카라�any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer resource바카라�. This is under Section 69 of the IT Act, 2000, and Rule 4 of the IT (Procedure and Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring and Decryption of Information) Rules, 2009.

Intelligence Bureau

Narcotics Control Bureau

Enforcement Directorate

Central Board of Direct Taxes

Directorate of Revenue Intelligence

Central Bureau of Investigation

National Investigation Agency

Cabinet Secretariat (R&AW)

Directorate of Signal Intelligence (For service areas of Jammu and Kashmir, and the Northeast only)

Commissioner of Police, Delhi

***

Malware Alert

There바카라�s no fixed way to figure out if your phone has been hacked because spyware tech keeps evolving rapidly. But there are
a few thumb rules to follow. Stay alert.

1 Phone heats up and slows down ­suddenly. Battery drains fast and there바카라�s a surge in mobile data usage.

2 Periodically check if there are any apps you didn바카라�t download.

3 Apps crash regularly, and usual sites bear different layouts and have strange pop-ups

4 Texts or calls you didn바카라�t make appear in the log, or photos/videos in your gallery that you didn바카라�t take. Someone바카라�s controlling your camera remotely.

5 You바카라�re not using the phone, but flashlight goes on

(This appeared in the print edition as "By Stealth, Stakeout and Spyware")