Anil Ambani, sacked CBI chief Alok Verma were potential targets of Pegasus spyware: Report

NEW DELHI: In yet another revelation in the snooping row, "The Wire" on Thursday released a new set of high-profile names who were potential targets of snooping by the Israeli Pegasus spyware.
The new names of potential targets include industrialist Anil Ambani, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's (ADAG) corporate communications chief Tony Jesudasan and sacked CBI chief Alok Verma among others.
As per the report, the number for Dassault Aviation's representative in India, Venkata Rao Posina, former Saab India head Inderjit Sial and Boeing India boss Pratyush Kumar all appear in the leaked database at different periods of time in 2018 and 2019.
The Wire is a part of the Pegasus project, an investigation by 17 media organisations into possible snooping in several countries using the Israeli spyware.

The investigation focuses on a leaked list of more than 50,000 phone numbers from across the world that are believed to have been the target of surveillance through Pegasus software of Israeli surveillance company NSO Group.
"The Wire" has reported that three telephone numbers registered in the name of Alok Verma, the sacked CBI chief, was added to the list hours after he was removed on the night of October 23, 2018.
Along with Verma, the personal telephone numbers of his wife, daughter and son-in-law would eventually get placed on the list too, making it a total of 8 numbers from this one family, the report said.
Phone numbers of two other senior CBI officials, Rakesh Asthana, who was also removed from CBI on the same night, and A K Sharma were also added to the database.
By the second week of February, 2019, by which time Verma had finally retired from government service, this entire set of numbers ceased being of interest to the government agency which had added them to the list, reports "The Wire".
The number of Harmanjit Negi, head of the French firm energy EDF, is also in the leaked database, a significant choice given that he was a member of Emmanuel Macron's official delegation during the French president's visit to India during this period, the report says.