"Why didn't he submit his phone to probe panel?": Patra slams Rahul over snooping charges

Hitting out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his fresh snooping charges at the Centre during an address at the prestigious Cambridge University, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra on Saturday said the Wayanad MP did not submit his phone to the Supreme Court-appointed probe committee for forensic examination despite being asked to do so.

The probe panel was formed to look into the snooping charges against the BJP-led central government.

Addressing a press briefing in the national capital on Saturday, Patra said, "I am surprised that Rahul Gandhi goes to foreign shores and callls himself an Opposition leader, who is not allowed to speak. He also said Pegasus (Israeli spyware) was planted not just inside his phone but also those of several Opposition leaders."

"But when the SC-appointed probe committee asked for all mobile phones to be submitted for investigation, in connection with the Pegasus claims, why did he [Rahul Gandhi] not submit his phone then?" Patra asked.

Earlier, Rahul, speaking at an event at Cambridge, claimed that Intelligence officers in India told him that the Pegasus spyware had been installed in his phone and he should be careful about what he says over phone

Countering Rahul's charges, Patra said if his allegation is, indeed, true, then the person he was speaking to must have been the one who put the bug in his phone and was snooping on him.

"The Intelligence officer at the other end of the line planted the spyware in his phone and listened in on his phone calls. He must have later called him up to warn him that he was being snooped on. He must have told to watch what he says and not say a word about the covert deals, as his calls were being recorded (yahan wahan ki baat mat karna, jo aap len den ki baat karte ho wo sab record ho rahi hai]," Patra said.

He claimed that phone-tapping was done during the second the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

"It was in the second term of the UPA that an RTI query revealed 9000 phone-tapping incidents, which later grew to one lakh," he added.

( With inputs from ANI )

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