Naresh Goyal, Prashant Kishore, Togadia, Ashok Lavasa also target Pegasus

New Delhi, Dt

Leaders around the world have raised suspicions that leaders, businessmen, journalists, activists, students, and lawyers have been spied on or placed under surveillance by governments around the world through Israel's NSO group's Pegasus software, along with 12 other global media groups, including the website The Wire. Is gone. The list of 12 people whose leaked phone numbers were leaked by the website The Wire on surveillance on Tuesday includes Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways from India, Anil Ambani of Reliance Group and government officials.

The Wire, a consortium of international media organizations, has released a list of 12 names under the Pegasus project, including the numbers used by Naresh Goyal, founder and chairman of Jet Airways, and Ajay Singh, chairman and MD of SpiceJet, and Prashant Ruia of Essar Group. Ajay Singh, known for his alliance with the BJP, has made significant strides in the last few years after withdrawing the airline from Kalanidhi Maran.

On the same day the Pegasus project was unveiled, the names of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Prashant Kishor and two Union ministers were suspected. The list also includes a number of businessmen and company executives who have faced legal cases over the past few years. Most of these cases are related to loan fraud investigations, involving Rotomac Pen's Vikram Kothari and his son Rahul and former Aircel promoter and businessman Shivshankaran.

Under the Pegasus project, a global media group has obtained a list of the phone numbers of more than 50,000 people around the world, which is likely to be under surveillance by Israel's NSO group's Pegasus spyware. The list of 18 people released by The Wire includes 20 journalists, including The Wire's founder M. That. Venu, Sushant Singh, a journalist who previously reported on national security for the Indian Express, and Siddharth Varadarajan, the founding editor of The Wire.

Apart from this, the leaders include Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, his ally Alankar Sawai, Congress executive member Sachin Rao, Prashant Kishore, Trinamool Congress' Abhishek Banerjee, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, Union Minister Prahlad Singh Patel, his wife, secretaries, assistants, cooks and gardeners. Among them is Praveen Togadia, former head of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Also on the list is Sanjay Kachru, the corporate secretary to the then Union Human Resources Minister Smriti Irani in 2016. Smriti Irani was selected as his SOD, but he was never officially appointed.

In addition, the number of Ashok Lavasa, a constitutional appointee, was also a possible target for surveillance. He was the Election Commissioner at the time. The woman and some of her family members who accused former Supreme Court Chief Justice Tarun Gogoi of sexual harassment were also potential targets of surveillance. Her number was placed under surveillance after the woman made allegations against the former CJI. The numbers of scientists of the country, important officials of top government companies were also placed under surveillance.

A former official who has headed a government company for four years told The Wire on condition of anonymity that most people appointed to high positions believe they are somewhat under surveillance. It is natural to assume that when you hold a position related to the strategic interests of the country, you will be observed to some extent.

Some names from the list of 12 people released under Pegasus surveillance

Leaders, people connected with them

1. Rahul Gandhi , senior Congress leader.

. Alankar Sawai , Rahul Gandhi's ally.

. Sachin Rao , Congress executive member.

. Prashant Kishore , Election Strategist.

. Abhishek Banerjee , Trinamool Congress leader.

. Ashwini Vaishnav , a former IAS officer who has just been made a Union Minister.

. Prahlad Singh Patel , one more Union Minister, his wife, secretaries, assistants, cooks and gardeners etc.

. Pravani Togadia , former head of VHP

. Pradeep Awasthi , Personal Secretary to Vasundhara Raje.

10. Sanjay Kachru , Corporate Executive.

11. G. Parmeshwar , Deputy Chief Minister of JDS-Congress in Karnataka.

13. Satish , personal secretary to JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy.

13. Venkatesh , personal secretary to Karnataka Congress leader Siddaramaiah

13. Manjunath Muddegauda , JDS President H.D. Deve Gowda's personal secretary

Businessmen

1. Naresh Goyal , founder of Jet Airways.

. Anil Ambani , Chairman of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG)

. Tony Jesudason , ADAG's head of corporate communications.

. Venkat Rao Posina , India Representative of Dassault Aviation.

. Indrajith Sail, ancestor of Saab India

. Harmanjit Negi , head of the French energy company EDF.

. Ajay Singh , Chairman of Spice Jet

. Prashant Ruia , Director, Essar Group.

. B.C. Tripathi , former head of Gayle.

10. V. Balasubramanian , lobbyist of Reliance Industries

Kashmiri separatist leader

1. Bilal Lone , brother of People's Conference leader Sajjad Lone.

. Tariq Bukhari , brother of his party leader Altaf Bukhari.

. Syed Naseem Gilani, son of Syed Ali Shah Gilani

. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq , separatist leader and head of the Hurriyat Conference

Constitutional Authority

1. Ashok Lavasa , former Election Commissioner

National Security Officer

1. K.K. Sharma , former head of the BSF

. Jagdish Maithani , Inspector General of BSF, was associated with the Home Ministry's smart fencing project.

. Jitender Kumar Ojha , Rona Senior Officer.

. Colonel Mukul Dev , Military Officer

. Colonel Amit Kumar , Military Officer

Government officials

1. Rajeshwar Singh , Senior Officer, ED

. Abha Singh , sister of Rajeshwar Singh

. V.K. Jain , former IAS officer

CBI officials

1. Alok Verma , former head of CBI.

. Rakesh Asthana , CBI officer.

. a. That. Sharma , CBI officer.

Journalists

1. M.K. Venu , the founding editor of The Wire

. Sushant Singh , Defense Correspondent for the Indian Express

. Siddharth Varadarajan , editor of The Wire.

. Vijaya Singh , journalist of The Hindu.

. Smita Sharma , former anchor of TV12.

. Shishir Gupta , Executive Editor, Hindustan Times.

. Rakesh Singh , Defense Journalist of Hindustan Times.

Scientists

1. Gagandeep Kang , former virologist.

. Hari Menon , Indian head of the Bill-Melinda Gates Foundation.