SC to hear pleas demanding probe into Pegasus allegations on Aug 5
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court is set to hear the petitions demanding a special investigation into the Pegasus scandal on Thursday.
A two-member bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana will be addressing the petition which argues that the Pegasus Project by the consortium of 17 global media organisations has revealed over 142 people from India to be potential targets.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, ace poll strategist Prashant Kishor, two serving Union Ministers, ex-Election Commissioner, and 40 journalists are on the alleged leaked list.
300 phones from India were revealed to be on the list of potential targets on the leaked database of NSO, the owner of the spyware.
Senior journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar, CPM MP John Brittas, and advocate ML Sharma have approached the court to order the government to disclose whether it has purchased a license for the spyware.
Meanwhile, the Security Lab of Amnesty International has found traces of spyware on the phones through forensic analysis.
However, the union government has repeatedly denied conducting any kind of surveillance and snooping on phones. It also called the Pegasus project and leaked database "sensational" and said the report was said to have "no substance".
NSO Group also maintains that the leaked database is not authentic.