Maharashtra Didn't Avail NSO's Services During My Term: Devendra Fadnavis

Devendra Fadnavis said Maharashtra government did not avail of any services from NSO till he was the chief minister.

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said Maharashtra government did not avail of the services the private Israeli firm NSO, which licenses its military-grade Pegasus spyware to governments for tracking terrorists and criminals, as long as he was the state chief minister. Mr Fadnavis, Maharashtra chief minister during 2014-19, and now Opposition leader in the state Assembly, was speaking to reporters following claims that the Pegasus software, that can infect phones without a click, was used in attempted and successful hacks of smartphones belonging to journalists, human rights activists and business executives in India and many other countries. "Maharashtra government did not avail of any services from NSO till I was the chief minister," Mr Fadnavis said. "A team of DGIPR (the state government's publicity department) went to Israel after the (2019 Assembly) elections and before the next government was formed, but that trip was for agriculture development purposes," the BJP leader said. The Central government has already rubbished reports on the alleged snooping using Pegasus, Mr Fadnavis said. "There is only legal interception, there is no illegal hacking," he added.