No info available with ministry, MEA says on Pegasus row

New Delhi, Feb 3:  Responding to queries on the recent New York Times report which stated that India had purchased the spyware tool Pegasus as part of a $2 billion arms deal with Israel in 2017, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday that the details of the deals are publicly available and no information is available with the ministry on the matter.

"The alleged matter (spyware row) referred to is under investigation by a committee set up by the Supreme Court. No information is available with the Ministry of External Affairs on this matter. As regards the Prime Minister's visit to Israel in 2017, 7 MoUs were signed, details of which are publicly available," said official MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.

As per the NYT report, the government of India got the Pegasus spyware as part of an India-Israel defence deal in 2017. The report also claimed that the spyware was later allegedly used by the Indian government to collect information about more than 1,000 political opponents, civil rights activists and journalists.