Bengal Sets Up First Panel To Investigate The Pegasus Row
Mamata Banerjee led West bengal government has set up a panel which consists of one retired calcutta High court judge and another a retired supreme court Judge to probe the Pegasus phone-tapping scandal. The bengal government's move comes after the State Chief Minister's nephew and Trinamool MP, abhishek Banerjee's name also appeared on the list of potential surveillance targets.
The panel's probe will be the first formal inquiry into the snooping allegations that took place between 2017 and 2019 using Pegasus spyware to hack hundreds of phones of government officials, opposition leaders, journalists, and even a constitutional authority.
The decision to set up a panel for investigation, with retired judges heading it, was taken by cm Mamata Banerjee at a special cabinet meeting during the day.
Banerjee while speaking at a press conference, Banerjee stated the bengal government was expecting that the Centre will form an inquiry commission or will order a court-monitored probe into the phone-hacking reports. But the Centre is sitting idle.. so the bengal government has decided to form a inquiry commission to look into the matter". She further said she even cannot talk to other opposition leaders, fearing of her phone too had been hacked.
Making a ferocious attack on prime minister Narendra Modi, Banerjee said, "I am not attacking PM Modi personally. But he, and may be the home Minister, both are deploying agencies against opposition leaders and thus are misusing the agencies."