3 JNU alumni among activists in Pegasus snoop list: Report

Three former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students, including jailed activist Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya who were accused of sedition in 2016 over a campus event, were among those potentially targeted by Israeli spyware Pegasus, digital news outlet The Wire reported on Tuesday.

The third ex-student is Banojyotsna Lahiri, who completed her PHD in 2015, and is friends with Khalid and Bhattacharya.

According to the list brought out by a global collaborative investigative project, which includes The Wire, several other activists’ numbers were also on

NEW DELHI:

the target list. These include Delhi University professor Saroj Giri; Ambedkarite activist Ashok Bharti; academic Bela Bhatia; railway union leader Shiv Gopal Mishra; Delhi-based labour rights activist Anjani Kumar; anti-coal mining activist Alok Shukla; Bastar-based peace activist Shubhranshu Choudhary; and Bihar-based activist Ipsa Shatakshi, the report by The Wire noted. HT could not independently verify this.

Khalid is in prison after being charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for his alleged role in the 2020 Delhi communal riots.

“I was told the timestamp for my name was 2017-18. I cannot get the phone checked by forensics because I no longer use the device. The pattern of people being surveilled upon shows that these were people whose voices were not approved of by the regime,” Lahiri said.

The presence of a number does not indicate the individual’s phone was hacked — just that it was of interest.

Bhattacharya said he was aware of the possibility of being under surveillance as the government had been targeting dissenters. “An independent judicial inquiry is a minimum that should be done. The act of surveillance shows malafide intent of the government which goes after dissenting voices,” he said.

The Union government and BJP have denied all charges.