Pegasus snooping row: SC appoints former judge Justice R V Raveendran to oversee expert committee probe

Former Supreme Court judge Justice Raju Varadarajulu Raveendran, who has been entrusted with the task to oversee probe into alleged use of Pegasus spyware for surveillance of various people, has been part of benches which heard major cases such as row over quota for OBC in central universities, the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts and the Krishna-Godavari basin dispute over natural gas.

A bench headed by CJI N V Ramana appointed a three-member panel of cyber experts to probe the allegations and gave the task of monitoring the inquiry into the politically sensitive case to Justice Raveendran.

"Justice R V Raveendran, former Judge, Supreme Court of India will oversee the functioning of the Committee with respect to the methodology to be adopted, procedure to be followed, enquiry and investigation that is carried out and preparation of the report," the CJI said in the order on pleas seeking independent probe into the allegations of snooping on Indian citizens by use of Israeli firm NSO's spyware Pegasus.

Justice Raveendran was born on October 15, 1946 and enrolled as an advocate in March, 1968.

He was appointed as a permanent Judge of the Karnataka High Court on February 22, 1993 and was appointed as Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court on July 8, 2004.

He was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court on September 9, 2005 and retired on October 15, 2011.

Justice Raveendran also headed the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) as its chairperson in 2013. He has been assigned many important roles post-retirement.

Justice Raveendran was also part of Justice R M Lodha committee, which had recommended a slew of structural reforms in the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

The apex court in 2018 had directed the National Investigation Agency to probe a case of conversion and marriage of a Hindu woman to a Muslim man in Kerala under the supervision of Justice Raveendran.

He has been part of benches which heard several high-profile cases like the OBC reservation in central universities, 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case, and the Krishna-Godavari basin dispute over natural gas.

Justice Raveendran had recused from a bench, headed by the then CJI K G Balakrishnan, hearing the gas supply dispute between Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) and Reliance Industries (RIL).

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