The National Investigation Agency has secured clearance from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to acquire Cellebrite forensic technology from Israel for 4.98 crore rupees, overriding standard domestic procurement rules to extract locked mobile data.
- Procurement waiver bypasses standard Make in India public purchasing mandates to secure the three-year Cellebrite software license.
- Tool capability targets advanced file extraction on Android and iOS devices, specifically neutralizing built-in device privacy barriers.
- Broader deployment follows multiple 2026 tenders by various central and state agencies for the Israeli surveillance and decryption products.
The Ministry of Home Affairs granted a special exemption from “Make in India” public procurement conditions to permit the purchase, Deshabhimani reported. The three-year licensing agreement covers specialized forensic capabilities designed to bypass passcodes and recover deleted or encrypted files from modern mobile devices.
Operating across Android and iOS operating systems, the premium tool neutralizes standard privacy protocols to extract stored files. The central government has previously faced judicial scrutiny regarding digital surveillance tools, with multiple petitions challenging the validity of Section 69 of the Information Technology Act pending before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court observed in 2023 that seizing the mobile devices of journalists is a serious matter requiring clear regulatory guidelines. Those observations followed widespread controversy in 2021 over reports that the Pegasus spyware, developed by the Israeli firm NSO Group, was deployed to target politicians, parliamentarians, journalists, and activists, with an international media investigation identifying more than 300 Indian numbers on the targeted roster.
| Procurement Detail | Specification |
|---|---|
| Agency | National Investigation Agency (NIA) |
| Technology Provider | Cellebrite (Israel) |
| Total Cost | ₹4.98 Crore |
Review proceedings concerning the legal parameters governing digital device seizures and information decryption continue before the judiciary.
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