Pegasus Project revelations in India

In India, the Pegasus Project alleged the use of Pegasus on ministers, opposition leaders, political strategists, journalists, activists, minority leaders, Supreme Court judges, religious leaders, and top officials like Election Commissioners and CBI heads. Forensic analysis by Amnesty International found attempted or successful infections on Indian phones. The Supreme Court of India later confirmed ‘malware’ in 5 of 29 devices but said it could not be conclusively identified as Pegasus and noted the government’s refusal to cooperate.

The Pegasus Project was a 17-media collaborative investigation into the cyber-arms-classified spyware built by the Israeli NSO Group and sold only to governments. It probed a leaked list of 50,000 suspected targets, including 300 from India. The Supreme Court of India appointed a technical committee for independent verification of devices submitted by those suspecting surveillance.

Many critics argue that the way the Pegasus Project revelations were handled in India by the opposition looked more like a political stunt than a demand for accountability, opposition parties disrupted Parliament, used the alleged appearance of phone numbers on leaked Pegasus target lists to raise public outrage, and pushed for a probe.