The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that, “it doesn’t wish to file detailed affidavit on pleas seeking independent probe into alleged Pegasus snooping row.” The Centre said it has nothing to hide and that is why it will constitute panel of domain experts.

This comes six days after the Supreme Court granted the central government some more time for filing its response to a batch of pleas seeking an independent probe into the alleged Pegasus snooping matter. 

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana had issued a notice to the Centre on the pleas on August 17, while making it clear that it did not want the government to disclose anything which compromises national security.

As many as 12 pleas, including the one filed by the Editors Guild of India, have been filed in the apex court, seeking an independent probe into the matter.

They are related to reports of alleged snooping by government agencies on eminent citizens, politicians and scribes by using Israeli firm NSO’s spyware Pegasus.

The Pegasus spying racket broke on the eve of the Monsoon session. A reports by a consortium of international media websites alleged that over 300 verified mobile phone numbers, including of ministers, journalists, opposition leaders and one sitting SC judge apart from many businesspersons and activists in India could have been hacked through Pegasus spyware.