An expert committee appointed by the Supreme Court to look into allegations of illegal surveillance of citizens using the Pegasus spyware said on Thursday that some malware was found on five of the phones that it examined, Live Law reported.

However, it was not clear whether the malware was Pegasus. The committee had examined 29 mobile phones as part of its inquiry.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana took note of a finding by the panel that the Centre did not co-operate with the inquiry.

“The same stand you took here [before the Supreme Court], you took there,” Chief Justice Ramana told the Centre, according to Live Law.

The Supreme Court also said that it will make public the report of former judge RV Raveendran, who oversaw the inquiry. Justice (Retired) Raveendran’s report has given suggestions on the protection of citizens, future course of action and accountability, among other related subjects.

“It is a huge report, let us see what portions we can give,” Chief Justice Ramana said. “...These are technical issues. So far as Raveendran’s report [is concerned], we will upload in website. No problem.”

Chief Justice Ramana noted that some persons who had submitted their phones have requested that the committee’s report should not be released in public.

However, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing one of the petitioners, sought a redacted version of the report and said that the petitioners had a right to know what malware was found during the inquiry, Bar and Bench reported.

Lawyer Vrinda Grover, appearing for another petitioner in the case, also said her client needed to know what the malware was.

The Supreme Court said that the inquiry panel’s report is in three parts, including two reports by a technical committee and one report by the overseeing judge. The case will be heard again after four weeks.

The surveillance allegations pertain to a leaked list, featuring more than 50,000 phone numbers, which was accessed in July 2021 by Paris-based media non-profit Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International. As part of the Pegasus Project, the organisations had shared the list with 17 news outlets.

In September, the court had appointed the expert committee to look into the allegations. The panel had submitted an interim report in February.

On May 20, the Supreme Court had granted more time to the committee to submit its final report, and asked it to complete the examination of 29 mobile phones allegedly targeted by the Pegasus spyware preferably within four weeks.

Surveillance allegations

The Pegasus spyware is licensed to governments around the world by Israeli cyber intelligence company NSO Group. The company insists that it licences the software only to “vetted governments” with good human rights records and that Pegasus is intended to target criminals.

According to The Wire, the list of potential people who were targeted using the spyware includes Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, former Election Commissioner of India Ashok Lavasa, Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Prahlad Singh Patel, industrialist Anil Ambani and former Central Bureau of Investigation Director Alok Verma.

Responding to the allegations, Vaishnaw, the Union information technology minister, had told Parliament on July 19 last year that illegal surveillance was not possible in India.

Petitions in the Supreme Court seeking an investigation into the matter have been filed by former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, journalist N Ram, the Editors Guild of India, Asian College of Journalism chairperson Sashi Kumar, Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas and advocate ML Sharma