New Delhi: The WhatsApp snoop gate controversy took a new turn on Sunday with the Congress claiming that the phones of three opposition leaders including Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi were hacked.
Communications Chief Randeep Singh Surjewala addressing a press conference said, “Priyanka Gandhi also received a similar message from WhatsApp around the same time. WhatsApp sent messages to different people whose phones were hacked. One such message was also received from WhatsApp on the mobile phone of Priyanka Gandhi.”
Similar messages have been received by journalists, activists and some politicians.
Charging the government of being involved in the breach Mr Surjewala said, “It is, thus, clear that government and its agencies bought the spyware. It could neither be bought nor deployed by any private operator.”
Insiders claim that Congress is mulling a legal action on the hacking of the mobile phone of Ms Priyanka Gandhi.
Last week, Facebook, the parent company of WhatsApp, alleged that Israeli cybersecurity company NSO used WhatsApp servers to spread spyware Pegasus.
Among the 1,400 users targeted across 20 nations were Indian journalists, activists, lawyers and senior government officials, who were spied on for two weeks in April before the national elections.
Interestingly, WhatsApp said it was suing NSO Group, an Israeli surveillance firm, that is reportedly behind the technology that helped unnamed entities’ spies to hack into phones
Claiming the BJP government has been “exposed”, the Congress levelled a series of allegations, demanding that Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi give the answers.
Dubbing BJP the “Bharatiya Jasoos Party”, Mr Surjewala said, the government was silent on the issue “despite knowing about it”.
He further added, “The illegal spyware ‘Pegasus’ was used to hack and spy upon politicians, journalists, lawyers, civil society groups and human rights defenders. BJP government is the deployer and executor of this illegal and unconstitutional snooping and spying racket.”
Referring to documents available in public domain the Congress charged the government of ‘keeping mum on the issue in spite of being aware’.
