Allegations of Pegasus spyware being used to snoop on Opposition leaders and journalists are “serious if newspaper reports are correct”, the Supreme Court said today during the hearing of petitions seeking a special probe. A two-member bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana asked the petitioners to serve a copy of their petitions to the government.
The court will take up the petitions again on Tuesday, asking the Centre to be present at the hearing.
The Editors’ Guild of India in its petition has requested the Supreme Court to seek details from the government on the Pegasus contract and a list of those targetted. Two other petitions were filed on the same case – one by CPM MP John Brittas and the other by advocate ML Sharma.
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Earlier, senior journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar had sought a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a sitting of former judge.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has set up a commission of inquiry — consisting of retired Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Jyotirmay Bhattacharya and retired Supreme Court Justice MB Lokur — to probe the scandal.
