Delhi Police arrests freelance journalist Rajeev Sharma under Official Secrets Act

A freelance journalist, who was earlier "snooped" using the controversial Israeli spyware Pegasus, was arrested under the Official Secrets Act with Delhi Police on Friday claiming that he was in possession of defence-related classified documents.

Rajeev Sharma, who earlier worked with United News of India, The Tribune, Free Press Journal, Saakaal among others, was arrested on September 14. A local court had sent him to police custody till September 21 while his bail application was posted for September 22.

Sharma, a resident of Pitampura New Delhi and has been covering defence and foreign affairs for around two decades, was found to be in possession of "some defence-related classified documents" and the investigation in the case is in progress, a Delhi Police spokesperson said on Friday night.

Further details were not provided by the investigators who said that it will be "shared in due course".

He was among 121 activists, academicians and journalists who were alerted by Canada-based internet research agency Citizens Lab that their phones were compromised through their WhatsApp using 'Pegasus', which was developed by Israeli cyber intelligence firm NSO. The Citizens Lab had informed Sharma that his phone was under surveillance for about two weeks in May last year.

Besides Sharma, the names of activists and academicians like Anand Teltumbde, Shalini Gera and Bela Bhatia had also figured in the list.

Facebook was accused of using its messaging platform to dispatch 'Pegasus', which is a hacking tool.

While NSO had claimed that it sold the software only to official agencies, the Narendra Modi government had said that it had nothing to do with the spyware attack.