The Supreme Court on Friday passed an interim judgement staying the probe into the Pegasus case by Justice Lokur Commission constituted by the West Bengal government, media reports said.

The local government in the eastern state, headed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, had constituted the commission under Justice Madan B Lokur to probe into the allegations of snooping done allegedly by using Israeli Pegasus spyware, which is only sold to “vetted governments”.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana is reportedly unhappy over the conduct of the probe at a time the top court is carrying on its own inquiry.

The bench has issued a notice to the commission.

Names of high profile political personalities like Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, former poll strategist Prashant Kishor, new IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister Prahlad Patel and Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee among others have featured in the potential target list of the Israeli spyware, The Wire has reported in an explosive revelation.

Besides key politicians, over 40 Indian journalists and a constitutional authority were also found on the database of NSO as connected to people of interest since 2016, The Wire has reported.

Though the particular spyware is sold only to a vetted government, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw countered media reports on the Pegasus issue and said ‘illegal surveillance’ is not possible in India.