The incident has piqued the interest of intelligence agencies as a senior IAS officer came out with a complaint that his WhatsApp was hacked.
Published Nov 04, 2024 | 10:54 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 04, 2024 | 11:18 AM
Kerala IAS officer K Gopalakrishnan. (X)
Kerala Industries Department Secretary K Gopalakrishnan, IAS, filed a complaint on Sunday, November 3, alleging that his WhatsApp was hacked.
The complaint comes after a controversy erupted over the creation of the group, reportedly named, “Mallu Hindu Officers” with Gopalakrishnan as the admin. The WhatsApp group exclusively comprised Hindu officers and was allegedly created using the phone number of the IAS officer. Apart from the said group, there were also 11 other groups created with him as the admin. According to a TNIE report, another group “Mallu Muslim Officers” was also among the 11 groups.
It is learnt that the group led to swift backlash as officers voiced concerns about the group, viewing it as a violation of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules 1968, which underscored the need for upholding secular values. The group was allegedly deleted within hours of creation.
While a few reports claimed that the IAS officer created the group to send Deepavali wishes, K Gopalakrishnan said he filed a police complaint, alleging unauthorized access and misuse of his phone.
Meanwhile, an official of Cyber Crime Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram City said that they are yet to receive a complaint in this regard.
“Maybe he filed a complaint with the City Police Commissioner’s Office. If that’s the case, it will reach us via the proper channel,” said the officer.
However, the incident has piqued the interest of intelligence agencies as a senior IAS officer came out with the complaint his WhatsApp got hacked.
It is learnt that the state as well as central intelligence agencies have begun a probe including verifying the authenticity of the IAS officer’s claim of hacking.
Maktoob media further reported that K Golapakrishna sent the following message to the members of the group: “Dear all, it appears that someone has taken control of my mobile device, creating 11 groups and adding all my contacts. I have uninstalled the app, manually removed the groups from my WhatsApp, and will be changing my phone soon.”
Kerala Industries Minister P Rajeev responding to the controversy said, “An investigation will be conducted into the incident of creating a WhatsApp group of Hindu IAS officers. The matter is serious. Divisions on the basis of religion are a serious matter.”
Speaking with the media persons in Delhi, he added, “The government will investigate it. There is a general code of conduct regarding public administration. An investigation will be conducted based on that. It will be only after that further comments could be made on this issue.”
The issue comes on the heels of another controversy involving ADGP Ajith Kumar’s meeting with the RSS leaders.
(Edited by Sumavarsha, with inputs from Dileep V Kumar)
