As Pegasus claim falls flat, BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad asks 'Will Rahul Gandhi apologise?'

After the Supreme Court observed that there was no conclusive evidence of Pegasus spyware in the 29 phones that were scanned as part of the probe, former Union IT Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad lambasted the Congress over its vicious campaign against the Central government, asking if Rahul Gandhi would apologise for this. He further alleged that during the UPA regime, around 9,000 phones and 500 email accounts were snooped on every month. 

'Will Rahul Gandhi apologize now?': Ravi Shankar Prasad

Speaking at a press briefing, the former Union Minister said, "Congress party should not preach to us about spying. When Late Pranab Mukherjee was Finance Minister, Congress had bugged his office. As per a reply to an RTI in 2013, around 9,000 phones & 500 email accounts were watched every month by the UPA govt."

"The crucial point to note is that a high techinal committee, supervised by a judge of the SC, has not found any Pegasus virus in any of the 29 mobiles submitted for the examination. Will Rahul Gandhi apologize now for accusing us of treason?," BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad added. 

Around the same time, senior Supreme Court advocate and BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia accused the Congress of using the issue to create an atmosphere of fear among the general public, adding that the grand old party was trying to spread propaganda against the central government and politicising an issue related to national security. 

'No conclusive proof of Spyware': Supreme Court

On Thursday, a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice NV Ramana said that no conclusive evidence was found to show the presence of Pegasus spyware in the 29 phones scanned by it, while examining the report of the committee formed to probe the matter. It added that five of the 29 phones, which were submitted for examination, had some malware or poor cyber security but it may not be due to Pegasus.

The bench also noted that the committee informed the court that the Central government wasn't cooperative in its probe. "Centre has not cooperated," it said.