Amid the claims of Pegasus snoop ware being used to spy on opposition leaders, journalists and other officials, two senior Journalists- N Ram and Sashi Kumar have filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding a probe into the matter.
According to the petition, global investigations involving several top international publications revealed that the Israeli company NSO's Pegasus software was used to identify over 142 people in India as potential surveillance targets.
The two journalists in their petition demand that the matter should be investigated by a sitting or former judge.
According to the petition, the Supreme Court should order the government to reveal whether it has secured a licence for the spyware or whether it has used it, directly or indirectly to conduct any type of monitoring.
The forensic analysis of multiple mobile phones belonging to people named as potential targets by Amnesty International's Security Lab has proven security breaches, claims petitioners.
The Indians in the snooping database include over 40 journalists, three major opposition figures, one constitutional authority, two serving ministers in the Narendra Modi government, current and former heads and officials of security organisations and scores of businesspersons, The Wire reported.
The list of 300 phone numbers of targets also included opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, poll strategist Prashant Kishor, businessman Anil Ambani, a former CBI chief and many more prominent faces.
On the same issue, two petitions were earlier filed in the Supreme Court, one by CPM MP John Brittas and the other by lawyer ML Sharma.
Meanwhile, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced the appointment of a panel to investigate the Pegasus phone-hacking incident in the state on Monday. This comes only days after her nephew, Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee, was named as a prospective surveillance target.
Mamata Banerjee's investigating team includes retired justices, Justice Jyotirmay Bhattacharya and Justice MB Lokur.
"We expected the Centre to appoint an inquiry commission or to launch a court-monitored investigation into the phone-hacking issue. But the Centre is sitting idle. As a result, we decided to create a "commission of inquiry" to investigate the situation," said CM Banerjee while announcing the investigation panel.