West Bengal sets up panel to probe Pegasus snooping row: Mamata Banerjee

Upping the ante in her tense faceoff with the Centre over the Pegasus controversy, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced a two-member inquiry commission to go into the allegations of snooping on politicians, officials and journalists. The surprise development came shortly before the TMC supremo boarded a flight for New Delhi where she will hold parleys with opposition leaders to explore ways to cobble together an alliance of anti-BJP parties ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Former chief justice of Calcutta High Court Jyotirmay Bhattacharya and ex-Supreme Court judge Madan Bhimrao Lokur are the two members of the commission. "The Cabinet today approved the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry in exercise of power conferred by Section 3 of the Commission of Inquiry Act of 1952 in the matter of widely reported illegal hacking, monitoring, putting under surveillance, tracking and recording of mobile phones of various persons in West Bengal

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