Centre buys Israel’s phone-hacking tech used on tortured Palestinians
New Delhi: The Centre has approved the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) purchase of Cellebrite mobile phone extraction software worth nearly Rs 5 crore, while 15 procurement listings for the Israeli company’s technology have surfaced across 11 tenders issued by central and state agencies in 2026. In Kerala, the Congress-led UDF government has renewed a contract worth nearly Rs 1 crore for managing the software, according to an investigation published by the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) on Saturday.
The Union Home Ministry granted the NIA an exemption from the Make in India procurement preference in January 2026, paving the way for the purchase of Cellebrite Premium Tool under a three-year licence. The contract, worth Rs 4,97,99,515, was awarded to Nextechno Gen Private Limited.
The IFF investigation identified 15 procurement listings across 11 tenders involving agencies including the NIA, Delhi Police, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, the Department of Military Affairs and state authorities in Kerala, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh.
In Kerala, the Home Department issued a tender on July 16, 2026, for managing the Cellebrite Inseyets facility. The contract worth Rs 99,99,910 was awarded to Alibi Global Pvt Ltd. The software was initially procured during the previous LDF government's tenure, with the UDF government subsequently renewing the contract. The arrangement has also raised questions about whether private contractor employees, rather than police personnel, are handling data extraction from seized devices.
Cellebrite's technology can bypass passcodes and extract data from supported iPhones and Android devices, including information stored in protected spaces such as Samsung Secure Folder, Huawei Private Space and Xiaomi Second Space.
The investigation also highlighted concerns over the absence of publicly available safeguards governing when authorities can unlock phones, what data can be copied, how long extracted information can be retained and who can access it.
Citing a report by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), the IFF highlighted the use of Cellebrite technology by Israeli forces against Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. The report said the technology had been used to extract data from the phones of thousands of detained Palestinians, many of whom had been subjected to systematic torture.
The investigation also referred to documented cases of alleged misuse of the technology in countries including Serbia, Jordan and Kenya.
It further sought clarification on whether phones seized from journalists and others during protests in October were examined using Cellebrite or other extraction tools, and called for greater transparency over the use of such technology by law enforcement agencies.
Based on Maktoob report