India's top court Wednesday set up an independent panel to probe allegations that a foreign-origin spyware was used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to snoop on opposition politicians, senior officials, activists and journalists. The snooping scandal surfaced in 2019 when social media platform WhatsApp's parent firm Facebook filed a lawsuit in a US court, alleging that Israel's NSO Group developed Pegasus software and used it to target prominent Indian citizens during the last general election. A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice NV Ramana, gave the orderto "probe the falsity and discover (the) truth" in the wake of a number of petitions seeking an investigation into the allegations of phone-hacking by a foreign firm. "The alleged violation of privacy needed to be examined as it affected the rights and freedom of people. Such technology may also have a 'chilling effect' on press freedom in India," the Chief Justice said, while appointing a retired top court judge to head the panel. During the hearing of the case, the federal government filed a "limited affidavit", claiming the allegations of phone hacking had no substance. "No government will make public what software it is using to allow terror networks to modulate its systems and escape tracking." Read: India among world's top 10 for climate tech investment: Report However, the court came down heavily on the federal government for trying to play the national security card. "The state cannot get a free pass every time national security is raised. In the task of upholding fundamental rights, the state cannot be an adversary." The judges also said that the government got multiple chances to respond to the court's notices on the allegations. "A vague denial from the government is not sufficient," the court said, giving the panel two months to submit its report in the case. India's main opposition Congress party welcomed the Supreme Court's order. "If the PM of the nation colluded with another nation and attacked its own citizens -- which included the Chief Justice, former PMs and other Chief Ministers, leaders of opposition parties, then this is an attack on the nation," Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said. "Did the other nation have all this data? That is a very important question. Even if this data was on the Prime Minister's desk, then that too is totally criminal, and we will contest it. The Prime Minister is not above the nation," he added.

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government for "unleashing federal probe agencies against her family members", hours after her nephew and his wife were summoned for questioning by a federal probe agency in connection with an alleged coal scam. "Why are you unleashing the ED (Enforcement Directorate) against us. Against your one case we will raise bagfuls. We know how to fight back," Mamata told the media in state capital Kolkata. Mamata's nephew Abhishek, a parliamentarian, and his wife Rujira have been asked to appear before the federal agency at its headquarters in New Delhi on September 6 and 1, respectively, in connection with the case pertaining to illegal mining and theft of coal from two leasehold mines in the eastern Indian state. Abhishek also slammed India's ruling saffron party for trying to intimidate him so as to deter the Trinamool Congress party from focussing on the northeastern state of Tripura -- where the BJP is in power. "The more you try to intimidate us, the more we will focus on BJP-ruled states," he said at a rally in Kolkata. After returning to power for the third time in a row in Bengal in May this year, Mamata's party has now been eyeing Tripura, which shares its border with Bangladesh. Abhishek recently visited Tripura to strengthen the Trinamool Congress' organisational hierarchy in the state, where assembly polls are slated for 2023. It may be mentioned here that Mamata has been accusing the country's ruling BJP of trying to destabilise her government ever since her party came to power in Bengal for the third consecutive time in May this year. Bucking anti-incumbency, Mamata scripted history on May 2 by single-handedly pulling off an astounding win in the assembly election. Bengal had witnessed the most high-profile contest in India's recently held state elections. While Mamata had harped on being Bengal’s daughter, the BJP asked people to vote for "change and socio-economic development" after 50 years of Communist and Trinamool rule.