Pegasus Case | SC-Appointed Committee Submits Interim Report Ahead Of Feb 23 Hearing: Report

Pegasus Row: A 3-member bench of Chief Justice NV Ramanna will hear the petitions filed regarding the Pegasus espionage case on February 23.

The Supreme Court of India Building (File photo: AFP)

New Delhi: The committee appointed by the Supreme Court to probe the Pegasus spyware case has reportedly submitted the interim report to the SC bench.

A bench led by Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli has listed as many as 12 PILs, including the ones documented by Editors Guild of India and veteran columnists N Ram and Sashi Kumar, for hearing on February 23, news agency IANS reported.

IANS cited sources as informing that the Pegasus panel, appointed by the Supreme Court, has submitted an interim report appraising the apex court about the progress on the probe.

The Supreme Court had in October last year set up a committee of experts to probe the case of alleged spying of Indian citizens through the Israeli spyware Pegasus, observing that the state "won't get a free pass" every time it enhances national security and the court will no longer be a "mute spectator".

An independent expert technical committee supervised by a retired top court judge, Justice RV Raveendran was authorsied to investigate the Pegasus snooping allegations.

Justice Raveendran is overseeing the functioning of the technical committee and he is assisted by Alok Joshi, former IPS officer, and Dr Sundeep Oberoi, Chairman, Sub Committee in International Organisation of Standardisation/International Electro-Technical Commission/Joint Technical Committee.

Earlier, the Supreme Court-appointed technical committee looking into the Pegasus issue had extended the timeline for affected persons to turn up before the panel till February 8.

The extension came as the SC-appointed panel informed that only two persons produced their mobile instruments for taking digital images in response to its initial appeal to the public in January.

The previous notice last month had mentioned a timeline of January 7, 2022.

Media reports covering the Pegasus spyware issue had claimed that the Israeli software was used against several Indian politicians, ministers, social activists, businessmen, and journalists.

Recently, the Pegasus controversy escalated once again after a report by the New York Times claimed that the Israeli spyware and a missile system were the “centerpieces” of a roughly USD 2-billion deal between India and Israel in 2017 involving sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear.

(With agency inputs)