During his questioning, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said by accessing his iPhone data and chats, the ED would be privy to details of AAP’s ’election strategy’ and pre-poll alliances
Apple has reportedly denied to unlock and give the Enforcement Directorate (ED) access to the iPhone used by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The Cupertino-based tech-giant has reportedly said the data can only be accessed with the password set by the owner of the device.
A report by The Indian Express quoted sources saying that during ED’s raid on the night of Kejriwal’s arrest on March 21, the agency just found Rs 70,000 and four mobile phones, including the CM’s smartphone, which were confiscated. The Delhi CM, allegedly, had switched off his iPhone and denied sharing his password.
Why Kejriwal did not share his iPhone’s password with ED?
As per reports, Kejriwal, during his questioning, said that by accessing his mobile phone data and chats, the ED would be privy to details of AAP’s “election strategy” and pre-poll alliances.
Apple’s history of not unlocking devices for law enforcement
This isn’t the first time where Apple has refused to unlock the device at the request of a country’s investigating agencies.
In 2020, Apple refused to unlock the device of one Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, a second lieutenant with the Saudi Air Force after he three Americans to death at Pensacola Naval Air Station. American authorities called this an act of terrorism, and the FBI had asked Apple to unlock the device and share the data with them to aid their investigation.
However, Apple refused to unlock the device but provided the investigative authorities with a wide variety of information that was associated with Alshamrani. Upon further requests, Apple provided more information including what they could retrieve from iCloud backups, account information and transactional data for multiple accounts.
Similarly, in 2016, a federal judge asked Apple to assist the FBI in unlocking the iPhones of two suspected terrorists, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the 2015 San Bernardino attack.