NSO group, who made Pegasus, claims target list in India is not theirs: Report

It is fabricated information, a spokesperson of the NSO group said

The list of phone numbers allegedly targeted for surveillance by the Indian government using Pegasus, a software developed by an Israeli company NSO Group does not belong to the spyware makers, according to an NDTV report.

In a conversation with NDTV, the group's spokesperson said that NSO is "not related to the list published by Forbidden Stories (the Paris-based non-profit group that worked with Amnesty International to obtain the database of 50,000 phone numbers that triggered this controversy)".

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The spokesperson said, "It is not an NSO list, and it never was - it is fabricated information. It is not a list of targets or potential targets of NSO's customers," before adding, "If and when NSO receives credible proof of misuse of its technologies, it will conduct a thorough investigation, as it always had and always will."

Latest revelations in the Pegasus snooping scandal showed that Union Ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Prahlad Patel, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, top Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee, election strategist Prashant Kishor and former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa were either spied or were potential targets.

Five friends and at least two aides of Rahul, 18 numbers of family and associates of Vaishnaw and Patel, a former close aide of Union Minister Smriti Irani, an aide of BJP leader Vasundhara Raje, late VHP leader Pravin Togadia and the sexual harassment victim and her husband in the case involving former Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi were also in the leaked list of targets or potential targets of the snooping using Israeli spyware Pegasus, The Wire reported.

The report also said that three phone numbers belonging to the Supreme Court staffer who accused former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, who is presently a Rajya Sabha nominated member, of sexual harassment in April 2019 were selected as potential targets for surveillance.