In July 2017, under a package worth at least $2 billion, India purchased Pegasus — a surveillance software that cracks encrypted communication — from Israel, reported The New York Times.

PM Narendra Modi, who was serving his first term during that time period, was the first Indian premier who visited Israel followed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visit to the country. Israel and India finalised the deal with "Pegasus and a missile system as the centerpieces" of a deal of "sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear", according to the investigative report titled 'The Battle for the World’s Most Powerful Cyberweapon'.

Developed by an Israeli cyberarms firm NSO group, Pegasus is being sold across the world on a subscription basis to law-enforcement and intelligence agencies with a promise that "it could do what no one else -- not a private company, not even a state intelligence service -- could do: consistently and reliably crack the encrypted communications of any iPhone or Android smartphone".

The firm introduced the software in the global market in 2011.

Before Modi's visit to Israel, India had maintained a policy under which it had a "commitment to the Palestinian cause", while the "relations with Israel were frosty".

"Modi's visit, however, was notably cordial, complete with a carefully staged moment of him and [Israel] Prime Minister Netanyahu walking together barefoot on a local beach. They had reason for the warm feelings. Their countries had agreed on the sale of a package of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear worth roughly $2 billion — with Pegasus and a missile system as the centerpieces.

"Months later, Netanyahu made a rare state visit to India. And in June 2019, India voted in support of Israel at the UN’s Economic and Social Council to deny observer status to a Palestinian human rights organization, a first for the nation," read the report.

Apart from India, other countries who had purchased the software included United States, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Poland, Hungary with an aim to spy on politicians, journalists, human rights defenders and others, according to the year-long investigative report.

As per the report, the US's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had also bought and tested the spyware for years with plans to use it for "domestic surveillance" until the agency finally decided last year not to deploy the tools.

Modi's government came under pressure in October last year when India’s supreme court ordered an independent inquiry into whether the government used the surveillance software Pegasus to spy illegally on journalists, activists and political opponents as several Indian journalists and activists lodged case against the government, reported The Guardian.

Among other positive outcomes of the software when its sale started globally, Pegasus helped Mexican authorities in capturing Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the drug lord known as El Chapo. It also assisted European investigators to thwart terrorist plots, fight organized crime and take down a global child-abuse ring.

However, countries had also used the software against journalists and political dissidents.

According to the report, the United Arab Emirates used the software to hack the phone of a civil rights activist whom the government threw in jail. Saudi Arabia used it against women’s rights activists and to spy on communications with late columnist of The Washington Post Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed and dismembered in Istanbul in 2018.

Pakistan also investigated the issue after a mobile phone number once used by Prime Minister Imran Khan was part of a surveillance hacking attempt using the Pegasus software, following a Washington Post report in July last year.