KOLKATA: The West Bengal government set up a two-member inquiry commission to probe the Pegasus snooping controversy.
The panel will probe the illegal hacking, tracking, and recording of mobile phones in Bengal announced CM Mamata Banerjee. She said her government has set up the commission as the Centre was reluctant to probe into the spyware row.
Mamata alleged that the Centre cloned a meeting between her and Prashant Kishor, the election strategist who was hired by the TMC for the 2021 Assembly elections, and it came to light when Kishor got his phone audited.
Bengal is the first state in the country which set up an inquiry commission to probe the alleged Pegasus snooping.
"They (Centre) is reluctant to conduct a probe into the snooping using Pegasus. When all are demanding a probe, they are showing no interest. Our inquiry commission comprises retired Supreme Court judge MB Lokur and former chief justice of Kolkata High Court Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya," said Mamata.
While addressing a virtual rally on July 21, the TMC’s annual event to observe Martyr’s Day, Mamata requested the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the alleged snooping using Israeli software. She also displayed her cellphone with both the front and rear cameras covered with leucoplast.
"A few days back, I held a meeting with Prashant Kishor and some others. They (Centre) cloned the meeting. He (Kishor) got his cellphone audited and came to know one of our meetings was known to them through Pegasus software. Pegasus is dangerous. They are harassing people. Sometimes I cannot speak to anyone. I cannot talk to chief ministers of Delhi or Odisha," Mamata said before flying to Delhi on Monday.
Mamata’s decision to set up the inquiry commission at a time when the national politics is centred around the alleged snooping using the Israeli spyware. Political observers in Bengal said the setting up the commission will intensify her anti-BJP stance aiming to bring all opposition parties under one umbrella to form a united front against the saffron camp ahead of the 2024 general elections.
Taking a jibe at Mamata’s move, BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya tweeted: "Why are we even surprised that Mamata Banerjee has constituted a judicial commission to investigate bogus ‘Pegasus Project’? Her priorities have always been warped. If only she had shown such alacrity to probe post-poll violence and investigate several Covid scams in Bengal."