Who funded Pegasus snooping? asks Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut; compares it with Hiroshima bombing
Mumbai, Jul 25: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday asked who funded the alleged snooping of politicians and journalists by Pegasus and compared it with the Hiroshima bombing, saying while the attack on the Japanese city had resulted in death of people, the spying by the Israeli software led to "death of freedom".
"The modern technology has taken us back to slavery," Raut said in his weekly column 'Rokhthok' in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana.
He said the Pegasus case is "no different from the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima".
"People died in Hiroshima, while in the Pegasus case, it led to the death of freedom," he claimed.
He said politicians, industrialists and social activists fear they are being spied upon, and even the judiciary and media are under the same pressure.
"The atmosphere of freedom in the national capital ended a few years ago," said Raut, who is the executive editor of Saamana.
He also sought to know who paid for the alleged snooping by the Israeli spyware.
Quoting a media report, he said the Israeli company NSO charged Rs 60 crore annually as license (fee) for the Pegasus software.
By way of one license, 50 phones can be hacked. Hence, to tap 300 phones, six to seven licenses are required, the Rajya Sabha member said.
"Was so much money spent? Who paid for it? The NSO says it sells its software only to governments. If it is so, which government in India purchased the software? Rs 300 crore were spent for spying on 300 people in India. Does our country have the capacity to spend so much money on spying?" Raut asked.
He also said BJP leader (and former Union IT minister) Ravishankar Prasad had justified spying by saying 45 countries in the world used Pegasus.
Raut, whose party shares power with the NCP and Congress in Maharashtra, claimed that journalists who criticised the Modi government were snooping targets.
An international media consortium had recently reported that several verified mobile phone numbers, including of some ministers, journalists, opposition leaders, and scores of business persons and activists in India could have been targeted for hacking using Pegasus software/spyware.
The government has, however, dismissed allegations of any kind of surveillance on its part on specific people, saying it "has no concrete basis or truth associated with it whatsoever"
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
“Bleeding on the road, I begged for help but no one came”: Bengaluru woman recounts husband’s death
Bengaluru: A woman in Bengaluru has shared a painful account of how her husband died after they were repeatedly denied medical help and ignored by passersby during a medical emergency, NDTV reported.
The victim, 34-year-old Venkataramanan, a garage mechanic from Balaji Nagar, developed severe chest pain around 3.30 am. His wife immediately took him on a motorcycle in search of medical help.
"He complained about chest pain, and we went to the first hospital. However, the doctor was not on duty. At the second hospital, we were told he had a stroke and to go to another hospital. When we called for ambulance services, they did not respond properly. Humanity failed, but we did our bit by donating his eye." NDTV quoted his wife as saying.
According to the report, after being turned away twice, the couple met with an accident on the road. CCTV footage later showed the woman, covered in blood, pleading with folded hands as vehicles passed by, but no one stopped to help.
ALSO READ: Actress Shilpa Shetty's restaurant booked for breaching operating hours
The wait ended after several minutes when a cab driver stopped and rushed Venkataramanan to a nearby hospital. Doctors there declared him dead on arrival.
As per the report, the family decided to donate Venkataramanan’s eyes, giving sight to others even in death.
Venkataraman's mother, who had lost her last surviving child, had no words to express herself: "I have no words. I do not know what to say. My son is gone."
"The government should understand a health emergency. My daughter is left with two children. Who will look after them?" asked his mother-in-law. His wife, mother, and two children, a five-year-old son and an 18-month-old daughter now survive Venkataramanan.
The incident has once again raised serious questions about emergency healthcare access, ambulance response, and public apathy in the city.
