A six-member House Committee constituted to probe into the reports of alleged purchase of Pegasus spyware by the previous Telugu Desam Party government headed by then chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu began its exercise on Wednesday.
The house committee, headed by senior MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy and comprising MLAs Karanam Dharmasri, Bhagyalakshmi, Mondithoka Jaganmohan Rao and Maddali Giridhar, held a meeting with senior officials of the home department and Information Technology departments.
Interestingly, the committee has not confined itself to just alleged purchase of Pegasus spyware purchase, but also into other methods adopted by the previous TDP government to keep a surveillance on the opposition party leaders and other officials.
“Pegasus spyware purchase is just one of the issues. We shall probe into the various methods of data theft, purchase of other surveillance equipment and tapping of phones of the opposition parties by the previous TDP government, thereby infringing upon the fundamental right to privacy of individuals,” Bhumana Karunakar Reddy said.
The house committee was constituted in March this year by state assembly speaker Tammineni Seetharam to inquire into the various methods allegedly adopted by the previous TDP government to tap the telephones of its political rivals, based on the information available with the government.
The constitution of the house panel followed a a short-discussion in the assembly on the recent statement made by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee that in 2017, the then TDP government had procured the Pegasus spyware from the Israel company NSO Group, while her government had rejected the same.
“We shall expose the TDP for adopting illegal methods to keep a surveillance on the opposition leaders and other individuals. The committee believes that it had happened,” Bhumana said.
He, however, said though there were no official evidences on the purchase of Pegasus spyware, it might have indeed acquired the spyware through unofficial means. The committee would dig into the past records, he said.
“We have just begun a preliminary inquiry. We shall sit again on July 5 and 6. The officials said they would give complete data by then. We shall also summon the officials of the intelligence department during the previous TDP government,” Bhumana added.