New Delhi: The Pegasus panel in a report submitted in the Supreme Court said there was no conclusive evidence to show the presence of Pegasus spyware infected 29 phones scanned by it.
The dialogue was based on the report Chief Justice N.V. Ramana read in the open court on Thursday adding that the committee informed the court that the Indian government did not cooperate in its probe. “Centre has not cooperated,” it said.
The report submitted in three parts mentioned that 29 phones were submitted to the Pegasus panel, however Pegasus spyware was not found. The report added that in five phones some other malware was detected, ‘but it cannot be concluded that it was Pegasus.
There have been no comments on the case as of now and the matter is adjourned for four weeks.
The apex court October last year had directed a panel of experts to scrutinize whether the government used military-grade private Israeli Pegasus spyware to surveil opposition leaders, activists, tycoons, judges and journalists.
A list of more than 142 Indian citizens mostly high profile was realeased which included Congress’s Rahul Gandhi, poll strategist Prashant Kishor, two serving Union Ministers, an ex-Election Commissioner, two registrars of the Supreme Court, an old number of a former judge, a close aide of a former Attorney General, and 40 journalists.