Within days of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi alleging that the Instragram accounts of her children were hacked in an apparent attempt by the government to snoop not just on politicians but their families, top sources in the IT Ministry told CNN-News18 that a suo motu complaint will be lodged by the government to probe the charges.
Sources said it is also understood from Instagram that so far, no official complaint has been lodged by the Gandhi-Vadra family and neither have there been any irregular activities or postings on the Instagram handles of Priyanka Gandhi’s children.
During her campaign in Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi had said the government had lost its morality and was constantly attacking the Opposition through raids, including those by the Income Tax department. “They are even hacking my children’s Instagram accounts, let alone phone tapping. Do they not have any other work?” she said in Lucknow a couple of days ago.
The Congress leader’s accusations came just days after Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav accused the government of tapping his phone. His allegations came a day after the Income Tax Department carried out searches at the residences of SP national secretary Rajiv Rai and three others considered close to Akhilesh.
The Opposition has been raking up the Pegasus software issue, demanding a JPC and alleging that the government was snooping on its own people. Currently, the matter is before the Supreme Court. The Monsoon Session of Parliament this year was lost in din because the Opposition refused to let the House function till the government allowed a debate on Pegasus.
The Pegasus row dates back to July 18, 2021, when a global collaborative investigative project revealed that Israeli company NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware targeted over 300 mobile phone numbers in India, including that of two serving ministers in the Narendra Modi government, three Opposition leaders, one constitutional authority, several journalists and business persons.
With inputs from News18
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