West Bengal govt has formed inquiry panel to look into Pegasus snooping row: Mamata Banerjee

The decision to form a panel, with retired judges as its members, was taken at a special cabinet meeting chaired by the chief minister during the day.

“We thought the Centre would form an inquiry commission or a court-monitored probe would be ordered to look into this phone-hacking incident. But the Centre is sitting idle… So we decided to form a ‘commission of inquiry’ to look into the matter,” she said at a press conference here.

Former chief justice of Calcutta High Court Jyotirmay Bhattacharya and ex-Supreme Court judge Madan Bhimrao Lokur are the two members of the government-constituted commission.

“Names of people from West Bengal have figured on the Pegasus target list. The Centre is trying to snoop on everyone. The commission will find out details about this illegal hacking,” the CM added.

A massive political row erupted in the country and other parts of the globe after media reports claimed that the Pegasus spyware was used to infiltrate phones and conduct surveillance on political leaders, government officials and journalists.