India News | Pegasus Snooping Row: J-K Cong Demands SC-monitored Probe
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Congress' Jammu and Kashmir unit on Thursday demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the alleged snooping of phones of party leader using Rahul Gandhi and others using Israeli Pegasus spyware.
Jammu, Jul 22 (PTI) The Congress' Jammu and Kashmir unit on Thursday demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the alleged snooping of phones of party leader using Rahul Gandhi and others using Israeli Pegasus spyware.
An international media consortium reported on Sunday that over 300 verified mobile phone numbers, including of two ministers, over 40 journalists, three opposition leaders and one sitting judge besides scores of business persons and activists in India could have been targeted for hacking through the spyware.
Rahul Gandhi, BJP minister Prahlad Singh Patel, as also former election commissioner Ashok Lavasa and poll strategist Prashant Kishor were among those whose numbers were listed as potential targets for hacking, the consortium reported.
The government and the ruling BJP have dismissed the Pegasus Project reports as concocted and evidence-less.
A number of senior leaders and activists of the Jammu and Kashmir Congress held a protest and took out a march towards the Raj Bhawan from Congress seeking a Supreme Court-monitored investigation into the alleged snooping issue and demanded the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The Jammu and Kashmir Congress' chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said the party is fighting to protect the Constitution, the right to privacy of every citizen
He said that national security was involved in this issue.
Sharma alleged claimed that the "BJP is indulging in illegal and unconstitutional actions as it is afraid of Rahul Gandhi".
Former minister and J-K Congress vice-president Raman Bhalla also raked up the issue of the recent amendment in domicile law.
"Step by step, the BJP government is allowing outside residents to grab its resources, jobs and lands of the locals of Jammu and Kashmir which is unjustified," he alleged.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)