Modi govt must give SC details of 100 Indians spied upon through Pegasus spyware: Congress

New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday demanded that the Centre put before the Supreme Court the latest revelations made in the US court that 100 Indians were spied upon using the Pegasus spyware.

Addressing a press conference here, party leader Randeep Surjewala said it was clear that the Pegasus was used to hack the cell phones of 100 Indians, and demanded a court-ordered inquiry into the matter.

"NSO, which has sold the Pegasus software, has clearly said that the spying software licences were taken by sovereign governments. It is clear that spying was done, but when will the Modi government answer on this," he said.

"Does this not prove prima facie that the (Narendra) Modi government bought the Pegasus software for spying? Who are these 100 people who were spied upon and with whose permission were their phones hacked," Surjewala said.

He said the government should also tell who gave permission to buy the software and where the money came from.

"When documents have been made public in America's court, is it not the government of India's responsibility to present the documents before the Supreme Court on April 22, so that the Court carries out a thorough investigation into this entire issue? The Modi government must give answers to these questions," he asserted.

The Congress leader said this has come out in the exchange of pleadings/documents between WhatsApp & NSO Group (owner of Pegasus) in US Court reflecting that the spyware was purchased by a "Sovereign," ie a government or its agencies.

The targets were opposition leaders, judges, journalists, even Union minister(s) and other prominent individuals, he said, adding that Rahul Gandhi had brought out the issue of Pegasus spyware being used on those in disagreement with the current Government.

Earlier, the issue snowballed into a major controversy and a full session of Parliament was wasted after the Congress and several parties in the opposition demanded a thorough investigation into the matter.