The Kerala government on Monday, November 11, suspended two IAS officers – K Gopalakrishnan, the director of Industries and Commerce, for creating a WhatsApp group exclusively for Hindu IAS officers in Kerala and Prasanth N, special Secretary in Agriculture department, for making derogatory comments against Additional Chief Secretary A Jayathilak. 

The action was taken following a report submitted by the Chief Secretary regarding the actions of the bureaucrats.

The spat involving Prashant started after a Mathrubhumi report said that files went missing from Unnathi, a state-government initiative for the social and economic development of students belonging to SC/ST communities. The report said that Jayathilak had then prepared an adverse report about Prasanth, who headed the initiative. 

Mathrubhumi then followed up with another story on how Prashant was accused of falsifying his attendance records. 

On Saturday, November 9, Prashant took to Facebook, accusing Jayathilak of leaking the reports. He also accused the Additional Chief Secretary of ruining the life of several young IAS officers who failed to toe his line and accused him of doling out favors to his family. Prasanth then allegedly went on to mock his senior officer using a movie dialogue.

Gopalakrishnan created a WhatsApp group exclusively for Hindu IAS officers. The WhatsApp group ‘Mallu Hindu Officers’ was reportedly created in connection with Deepavali. 

A few IAS officers reportedly raised their concerns with Gopalakrishnan and that led to the deletion of the group, hours within its creation.

When a screenshot of the group was leaked to the media, Gopalakrishnan claimed that his mobile phone was hacked. “It appears that someone has taken control of my mobile device, creating 11 groups and adding all my contacts. I have uninstalled the app and manually removed the groups from my WhatsApp and I will be changing my phone soon,” he claimed in a note. 

The police conducted an investigation after Gopalakrishnan lodged a complaint saying his phone was hacked. However, the police were not able to find any evidence of hacking after a forensic examination. The officer also admitted to the police that he had formatted his phone before submitting it to the police. This made it impossible for the police to detect any signs of a cyber attack on the device.