One IAS officer creates a WhatsApp group for Hindu officers, another publicly mocks and challenges a senior bureaucrat, vowing to continue exposing ‘misdeeds’ — the Kerala government’s headaches with IAS officers is growing. Intriguingly, a media organisation is caught up in this saga, surrounded by mistrust and linking two incidents that are connected yet not quite.

There are three officers involved in the entire mess – N Prasanth, Special Secretary in the Agriculture Department, K Gopalakrishnan, Industries Director, and their senior, Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) A Jayathilak. Prasanth and Gopalakrishnan were suspended on November 11 following a report by Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan.

While the IAS officers have been suspended for two separate incidents, there is a small connection between them. But first, here is the context of what went down. 

Prasanth, who was once admired as ‘Collector bro’ following his work in Kozhikode district, faced disciplinary action following his open criticism and mockery of Jayathilak on Facebook. Gopalakrishnan landed in a controversy over the formation of a religion-based WhatsApp group of IAS officers in the state.

Prasanth, Mathrubhumi, and Jayathilak

Prasanth, a 2007 batch IAS officer, began his career as probationary assistant collector of Kozhikode when Jayathilak was the Collector in 2008. Prasanth later held various positions, of which the post of Kozhikode Collector made him popular and earned the title ‘Collector bro’. During this term, he courted controversy by publicly criticising the then Kozhikode MP, MK Raghavan. In 2014, he raised eyebrows by joining the team of the then Home Minister Chennithala as his private secretary, a post held only by party members till then. In March this year, he was transferred from the SC/ST Department to the Agriculture Department following the displeasure of his superior, Jayathilak. He is one of the most popular IAS officers in the state with around 299k followers on Facebook.

On November 8, Mathrubhumi daily published a report that said that certain key files went missing from Unnathi, a state government initiative for the social and economic development of students belonging to SC/ST communities. The article quoted a report submitted by Jayathilak in which he accused Prasanth, who served as the Unnathi CEO, of being reluctant to hand over the necessary documents to his successor, K Gopalakrishnan.

Yes, that’s the same Gopalakrishnan who has now been suspended for creating the ‘Mallu Hindu officers’ WhatsApp group.

In a post rebutting the news, Prasanth alleged that Mathrubhumi and some IAS officers were behind the ‘fake’ news. The next day, he went ahead by naming Jayathilak as responsible for the reports against him. The provocation was another Mathrubhumi report which alleged that Prasanth fabricated his leave records by availing unauthorised outdoor duty. Prasanth also posted a comment on Facebook making fun of Jayathilak using a popular movie dialogue and insinuated that he was a mentally ill person. In fact, Prasanth has justified this comment saying freedom of speech includes the freedom to offend.

Prasanth followed this up with another Facebook post on a 2018 report regarding a CBI inquiry against a private firm owned by Jayathilak’s wife over allegations that it made financial gains from the Spices Board when he was its chairman. As per the report, Jayathilak also appointed his step-daughter as assistant director (marketing) at the Spices Board by flouting norms. The examination for the post was held in a northeastern centre at short notice to eliminate maximum candidates, the report said.

Prasanth claimed that he was acting as a whistleblower and was not violating any service rules. “One takes risks to be a whistleblower as justice can be achieved only through public scrutiny,” he said.

Alleging that Jayathilak destroyed careers of several IAS officers for disobeying him, Prasanth wrote, “He picked on the wrong person at the end of that long list of his.”

Interestingly, another senior officer in the Secretariat too commented against Jayathilak under one of Prasanth’s Facebook posts. In the comment, Special Secretary Shiny George said that no other officer humiliated her like Jayathilak in her 30-year career. Shiny added that the issue was finally solved with the intervention of the Chief Minister.

While Jayathilak maintained a silence against the criticism, sources said that he made an oral complaint to the Chief Secretary.

Prasanth and Mathrubhumi first locked horns in 2021 after a woman journalist of the media house accused him of sending her an ‘obscene sticker’ on WhatsApp. Prasanth has maintained that the media house targeted him using fake stories after that.

This is where Gopalakrishnan comes in.

Who stabbed who?

Gopalakrishnan is a 2013 batch IAS officer hailing from Namakkal in Tamil Nadu. He is in charge of the SC-ST Department, along with Industries.

His WhatsApp group for ‘Mallu Hindu officers’ was first reported by Asianet News. When the screenshot was released, Gopalakrishnan alleged that his phone was compromised and 11 such groups were formed, including a ‘Mallu Muslim officers’ group. Based on his complaint, the police conducted a probe. But the technical analysis, after reviewing the responses from Meta, Google, and his Internet Service Provider, ruled out hacking. The officer had also formatted his phone before handing it over to the investigating officers.

In the order issued on the night of November 11, the government observed that “creating a WhatsApp group to foment division, sow disunity and break the solidarity within the All India Service Cadre in the State amounts to violation of Rules 3(1), 3(1A(i), (2B)(i), (ii), (iii) and (x) of the All India Service Conduct Rules, 1968.”

This is where it gets complicated. According to sources, Gopalakrishnan suspected that Prasanth leaked the screenshot of the group. Officers in favour of Prasanth say they believe the documents were leaked to Mathrubhumi by Jayathilak. What is most intriguing is that Prasanth worked as Jayathilak’s junior officer and Gopalakrishnan as Prasanth’s junior officer.

Mathrubhumi, however, maintains that they filed an RTI months ago and that the documents weren’t ‘leaked’.

IAS officers divided

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has not openly responded to the controversy involving the officers so far. He took disciplinary action against the two officers based on the report filed by Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan on November 10. In Prasanth’s case, Sarada initiated a suo motu probe after his tirade against Jayathilak on social media.

Prasanth is likely to challenge the order as the disciplinary action was taken without seeking an explanation, sources said.

Kerala IAS Officers’ Association president B Ashok told the media that the government has the right to take disciplinary action against officers and that there was nothing unusual about it. He said there have always been differences of opinion within the IAS community. “Now the only difference is, it is being communicated 24x7 through social media. This disciplinary action was expected. The officers will get options to explain their stand. Our association will provide legal support to them,” he said.

Sources said that some senior IAS officers personally warned Prasanth against naming Jayathilak and Gopalakrishnan in his Facebook posts. As per Prasanth’s argument, he has not violated any rules as the rules only restrict IAS officers from criticising a government or its policies.

The spat, however, is unlikely to end soon. A May 14 letter by Jayathilak too has meanwhile surfaced, stating that his office had received all Unnathi documents via the Minister’s office. Prasanth cited this letter to claim that there was no controversy around Unnathi files and that Mathrubhumi had created a fake story.

Mathrubhumi has hit back with a letter written by Gopalakrishnan in June, months after he replaced Prasanth as the CEO of Unnathi. In that letter, he cited documents and social media account details that had not been handed over to him.

Meanwhile, there is one person who has been quite open about how happy she is with Prasanth’s suspension – former Fisheries Minister J Mercykutty Amma.

The deep sea fishing row

While senior LDF leaders were waiting for the CM’s response, Mercykutty intervened in the IAS officers’ controversy by calling Prasanth a ‘villain’. In a Facebook post, she alleged that Prasanth and Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala were behind the ‘script’ of the deep sea fishing deal controversy, which secured the UDF a win in the coastal regions in the 2021 Assembly elections. Mercykutty was the only minister in the LDF cabinet who suffered a humiliating defeat while the Left Front won a second consecutive term in the state.

US-based firm EMCC International and the Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation (KSINC) had signed an MoU to build deep sea fishing trawlers in February 2021. The deal, which gave powers to the US firm to engage in deep sea fishing, became a huge controversy when the then Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala raised it ahead of the Assembly election, forcing the LDF to cancel it. According to Mercykutty, the deal was signed with EMCC by Prasanth, the then MD of KSINC. She alleged that a political conspiracy was hatched by Chennithala and Prasanth, who was his former private secretary.

When asked whether he would respond to Mercykutty’s allegations, Prasanth’s reply was, “Who is that?”

Hours after Prasanth’s suspension order became public, Mercykutty reacted with all smiles, “He should have been suspended way earlier.”