Centre refers Siddaramaiah's plaint on Pegasus spyware to Karnataka govt
Bengaluru, Nov 6: The Ministry of Home Affairs has referred the matter relating to former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's complaint to investigate the alleged spying and surveillance through Pegasus spyware to the Karnataka government saying that police and public order are state subjects.
The leader of opposition in the Karnataka Assembly petitioned President Ram Nath Kovind through Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot seeking a judicial inquiry by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court on "illegal" spying and surveillance through Pegasus on July 22 after staging a demonstration in the city.
Congress party leaders later that day took out a march to the Raj Bhavan and submitted his plea to Gehlot, which was addressed to President Kovind.
The petition was forwarded by the President's Secretariat to the Home Ministry, which recently sent a letter to the Karnataka Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar marking a copy to Siddaramaiah.
The ministry said, "Since 'police' and 'public order' are state subjects under the seventh schedule to the Constitution of India, it is the responsibility of the concerned state government to prevent, detect, register and investigate crime and prosecute the criminals involved through the machinery of its own law enforcement agencies, and hence, you may take action on the representation, as deemed appropriate."
Sources close to Siddaramaiah said that he may raise an objection over the letter as the matter pertains to 'Centre and state subject', which only Centre has to address.
The senior Congress leader in his letter to the President on July 22 said people of the country are shocked and surprised to notice on July 18, 2021 that series of news reports in publications around the world revealed that more than 1,000 Indian mobile numbers of various personalities were targeted for surveillance including those of opposition party leaders, union ministers, supreme court judges, journalists, election commission members and other dignified and important persons of the country by using the Pegasus spyware of NSO Group of Israeli company.
"Pegasus Spyware is a commercial company, which works on paid contracts. The questions arise on who paid them for the 'Indian Operation'. If it is not the Government of India, then who it is?" Siddaramaiah wrote in his letter to the President.
Quoting media reports, he said since 2019, more particularly in the month of June and July of that year, he himself, then Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, then Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and other political leaders' numbers were spied upon and kept under surveillance by tapping the phones of the leaders and their personal staff.
"The BJP leadership had engineered to resign 17 MLAs in the name and style of 'Operation Kamala' (Operation Lotus). Similarly the BJP leadership might have tapped the phones of leaders from Madhya Pradesh and other state governments and toppled the said state governments," Siddaramaiah alleged.
In his letter, he urged the President to order a judicial probe by a sitting Supreme Court judge on illegal spying and surveillance in the interest of national security and to uphold the dignity and fundamental rights of the citizens of India.
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6 held for murder of Congress leader in Ludhiana
Ludhiana (PTI): Six persons have been arrested in connection with the murder of Congress leader Parminder Tiwari, who was hacked to death with an axe on Sunday in Machhiwara here.
Tiwari, the block president of the Congress party from Machhiwara in Ludhiana, was murdered on March 29 while sitting outside his rented quarters near Takhran village
Deputy Commissioner of Police Jaskaranjit Singh Teja stated the case is neither linked to politics nor gang rivalry.
The main accused, Vijay Kumar and Lucky, were apprehended in Jamalpura village in Munger district, Bihar, by a special team dispatched there, police said.
Preliminary investigations suggest that the suspects aimed to illegally occupy a piece of panchayat land in the Machiwara area, but Tiwari opposed their plans. The accused allegedly visited Tiwari at his rented quarters on March 29 and attacked him with an axe, resulting in his immediate death, officials said.
The other four individuals arrested are relatives of the main accused and were aware of the murder plot, the DCP added.
Police have recovered the axe used in the crime, as well as the motorcycle the accused used to flee the scene.
