Pegasus case: Maharashtra govt did not avail of NSO's services till I was CM, says Devendra Fadnavis

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis has said the Maharashtra government did not avail of the services of the private Israeli firm NSO which licenses its militarygrade Pegasus spyware to governments for tracking terrorists and criminals as long as he was the state chief ministerFadnavis Maharashtra chief minister during 201419 and now Opposition leader in the state Assembly was speaking to reporters following claims that the Pegasus software that can infect phones without a click was used in attempted and successful hacks of smartphones belonging to journalists human rights activists and business executives in India and many other countriesMaharashtra government did not avail of any services from NSO till I was the chief minister Fadnavis said A team of DGIPR the state governments publicity department went to Israel after the 2019 Assembly elections and before the next government was formed but that trip was for agriculture development purposes the BJP leader saidThe Central government has already rubbished reports on the alleged snooping using Pegasus Fadnavis said There is only legal interception there is no illegal hacking he added The issue of snooping using Pegasus spyware has snowballed into a massive political row in Parliament and outside as various parties demanded a thorough investigation and sacking of Home Minister Amit Shah while the government maintained it had nothing to do with itThe Congress accused the government of treason and held Shah responsible for the snooping and hacking of phones of journalists judges and politicians and demanded a probe into the role of the prime minister in the entire matter as well Fadnavis alluded to the surfacing of the Pegasus controversy as a plan to defame IndiaWe noticed that one or two media outlets got Chinese funding and carried out propaganda he said The Pegasus issue is part of a design to derail the ongoing Parliament session Fadnavis said There are some international forces that are trying to malign the image of the country especially when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking the country on the path of progress He has formed the most inclusive government with ministers from SCs and OBCs The opposition deliberately brought out this story ahead of the session Fadnavis saidThe Central government has denied having snooped on any person with the help of NSO One should trust it Fadnavis said when asked about claims by a British newspaper that there were traces of hacking in the phone used by political strategist Prashant Kishor who as Mamata Banerjees chief political strategist is credited with Trinamool Congress big win against BJP in this years Assembly elections in West BengalAlso Read Congress asks if Pegasus scandal happened in Maharashtra demands probeMaharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Sachin Sawant had on Monday asked if the Pegasus scandal happened during the tenure of the Fadnavisled government in the state Was any IPS officer sitting in Mantralaya working on this With whose permission did the DGIPR officers go to Israel What training did they receive Did they come back and report Is it related to Pegasus It is surprising and suspicious that such tours have taken place during the election period Sawant had said How many times did some officers go to Israel Were there any government meetings with NSO What was the correspondence with NSO It should all come to the fore the Congress spokesperson had sought to knowThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever