Kerala IAS who created Hindu-Muslim group on WhatsApp: Phone hacking claims found false, suspended

After the uproar over WhatsApp groups of Hindu and Muslim officers created from the mobile number of IAS officer in Kerala, now the Vijayan government has taken action. In this case, the Kerala government on Monday suspended IAS, on charges of violation of discipline.

The Kerala government suspended two senior IAS officers. They are accused of not following service rules. One officer's name is K. Gopalakrishnan, and the other is N. Prashant.

IAS Gopalakrishnan is accused of creating two WhatsApp groups on October 30, in which he was the admin. Hindu officers were added to the group named Mallu Hindu Officers and Muslim officers were added to the Mallu Muslim Officers group. Many senior officers were added to both the groups.

IAS officer who created WhatsApp group in Kerala suspended

The IAS officers included in these groups complained against Gopalakrishnan to senior officials in this regard. When the matter came to light, Gopalakrishnan lodged a complaint in the police station about his phone being hacked and the creation of religion-based WhatsApp groups.

Claim of phone hacking found false in investigation

According to the news agency, senior IAS K. Gopalakrishnan has been suspended for creating a religion-based WhatsApp group of government officials, while another officer Prashant has been taken action against for criticizing a senior IAS officer on social media. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan ordered the suspension of the officers based on the report received from the Chief Secretary.

During the investigation of the case, the police found that Gopalakrishnan had factory reset his phone several times before submitting it for investigation, due to which the mobile data was deleted. In such a situation, the claim of phone being hacked turned out to be false.

Suspended by CM on the report of Chief Secretary

IAS Gopalakrishnan was the Director of the Department of Industries and Commerce, while Prashant held the responsibility of Special Secretary in the Department of Agriculture Development and Farmers Welfare. Thiruvananthapuram City Police had investigated against Gopalakrishnan and submitted its report to the DGP.

Gopalakrishnan had lodged a complaint

Gopalakrishnan had lodged a complaint with the police that his mobile was hacked, and religion-based WhatsApp groups were created from it. If sources are to be believed, the IAS officer's phone was not hacked, Thiruvananthapuram city police commissioner Sparjan Kumar said that it is not clear whether the device was tampered with or not, as it had been 'reset'.

What did IAS Gopalakrishnan say in the complaint?

IAS Gopalakrishnan said in the complaint that two WhatsApp groups named 'Mallu Hindu Officers' and 'Mallu Muslim Officers' were created from his number.

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Apart from this, N. Prashant, Special Secretary of Agriculture Department, has also been suspended by the CM. Action has been taken against Prashant for criticizing his senior IAS officer on social media.

IAS N. Prashant is famous by the name Collector Bro

Prashant is a 2007 batch IAS officer. In 2015, he became the IAS of Kozhikode district. During this time, he started the initiative of connecting with people through social media.

Prashant is very active on social media. He had called his senior a psychopath on social media itself and said that he was spreading baseless news against me.

However, after the ruckus increased, the groups were also abolished the very next day of their creation. Even after this, this matter is not taking the name of stopping.