Former Intelligence Chief reveals NSO group approached Andhra govt for selling Pegasus

In a major revelation, Andhra Pradesh’s former Intelligence Chief AB Venkateswara Rao has disclosed that Israeli cyber intelligence firm NSO Group had approached the state government during Chandrababu Naidu’s regime with an offer to sell its Pegasus spyware.

There have also been speculations over whether state governments have purchased Pegasus. However, Rao firmly stated that the AP government did not go ahead with the proposal. Pegasus is a hacking software – a military grade spyware – that is developed and sold to governments around the world by the NSO Group.

Rao said, “In every state there may be a different agency they may approach. In Andhra Pradesh too they approached the Police Department. More specifically, if it is equipment with cutting edge technology they approach the Intelligence Department. If it is for everyday use, they may approach the DGP. Here also they approached us, we looked at it and had a discussion at the government level. Because we found it to be illegal per se, a conscious decision was taken not to go for it.”

When asked if NSO had approached any other states, Rao said he didn’t have any information on that. “Typically, as it is a high-end, sensitive equipment, neither do we ask them who has purchased it and nor will they reveal it. This is the basic rule that such vendors follow.”

This is the first time that there is confirmation that NSO had approached a state government after West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee revealed in the legislative assembly about receiving an offer for the illegal spyware. According to Mamata, the NSO Group offered her government the spyware for Rs 25 crore about 4-5 years ago.