India

In 2019, various Indian media outlets, starting with Indian Express, reported that WhatsApp had confirmed the Pegasus attack against 121 Indian phone numbers, including academics, activists, lawyers and journalists. According to WhatsApp, these numbers were part of a 2019 targeting operation against 1,400 mobile phones worldwide that was detected by the messaging company. In a list, Indian media Scroll.in identified 22 of the alleged victims. In the wake of the scandal, the Indian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology asked WhatsApp to reply to reports about a security breach on its platform and the Indian National Congress (INC) party called on the ruling BJP party to respond to queries regarding its alleged use of Pegasus.

In July 2021, the Pegasus Project reported that more than 1,000 phone numbers in India, of which more than 300 could be verified, were selected for potential surveillance by clients of NSO Group, including those of two ministers, three opposition leaders (among them, notably, INC leader Rahul Gandhi), 40 journalists and numerous activists. The Pegasus investigation also revealed that about twenty individuals close to the Dalai Lama were selected as targets by a client of NSO Group, most likely an Indian security agency, according to Le Monde.

The revelations of the Pegasus Project provoked a political crisis in India, with the topic dominating the parliamentary monsoon session and opposition leaders accusing Narendra Modi’s government of “treason” and calling for the resignation of its home minister. Protests were organized. In reaction to the central government’s inaction, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee set up a commission to investigate the spyware, but the Supreme Court asked the West Bengal government to wait with the probe in order to complete its own. The Indian IT Minister denied that any illegal surveillance had occurred.

After several months and nine petitions filed on the findings published by the Pegasus Project, the Supreme Court announced in October 2021 that it would set up an independent expert committee to investigate the use of Pegasus against journalists, opposition politicians and activists, overruling the Indian government’s stance to not treat the matter out of “national security” concerns.

In January 2022, the New York Times revealed that the governments of India and of Israel had agreed on a $2 billion package of weapons and intelligence that included Pegasus, which reportedly had contributed to warming up relations between the two countries.

In April 2022, the Supreme Court committee investigating the Pegasus case requested the Director Generals of Police of all Indian states to inform them whether they had accessed the spyware, and if so when it was procured, as well as the type and quantity of obtained licenses. The government repeatedly denied the use of the spyware by its agencies.

In October 2022, the OCCRP reported that India’s Intelligence Bureau received hardware matching equipment used for Pegasus in 2017, bolstering the New York Times reporting over India’s purchase of Pegasus spyware in 2017 as part of a major arms deal with Israel – something that Indian officials had previously dismissed as “sensationalism.”