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Kamal Nath seeks probe by Supreme Court judge

Kamal Nath seeks probe by Supreme Court judge
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Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath on Wednesday termed the alleged snooping of politicians and journalists by the Israeli spyware Pegasus as the "biggest attack on the privacy" of people and demanded a probe into it by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court.

Addressing a press conference here, the former state chief minister also said the Centre should file an affidavit in the Supreme Court that it did not use this spyware.

He alleged that the spyware was also used for toppling the previous JD(S)-Congress government in Karnataka.

Besides, the central government also made efforts to "buy" MLAs in Rajasthan, he charged. He further said WhatsApp had written a letter to Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra that her (WhatsApp) account was under surveillance. "The Pegasus spyware snoops on every thing in a phone, including mails, messages and passwords," he claimed.

The government should also clarify whether such softwares of other companies were also purchased or not, he said.

Nath said the Indian media could be suppressed, but the international media has exposed the snooping case on the basis of their research.

He said the Centre is denying the charges of snooping through the Pegasus spyware.

The Union government should clarify whether it (the spyware) was purchased for the "national security or Modi security", he said.

Nath said the Centre should "file an affidavit in the Supreme Court that it had not obtained this spyware and its license from the Israel-based NSO (company)".

"This alleged snooping is the biggest attack on privacy...an investigation should also be carried out into the matter by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court, whose phone was not snooped upon. The judge should be appointed (for the probe) with the consent of the opposition parties," the Congress leader said.

Nath noted that France has already ordered an inquiry into the alleged spying by Pegasus.

"If (it was) not purchased by the Indian government, then an inquiry should be ordered into it, like done by France and other countries, he said.

An international media consortium on Sunday reported that several verified mobile phone numbers, including of two serving ministers, various journalists, some opposition leaders and a sitting judge besides scores of business persons and activists in India could have been targeted for hacking through the Israeli spyware sold only to government agencies.

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